Accused: ‘I Did What I Did’

On Amagansett Main Street at a little after midnight Friday, East Hampton Town police spotted a 1991 Dodge pickup truck with a burnt-out taillight hanging by wires, and wound up charging its driver, Zachary Persico of Springs, 27, with felony drunken driving.

Officers searched Mr. Persico after arresting him and reportedly found four tablets of a controlled substance, Zaleplon, for which he did not have a prescription, leading to two misdemeanor possession charges.

At headquarters in Wainscott, police said, he refused to take the Intoxilyzer breath test, resulting in a year’s automatic suspension of his driver’s license.

Because Mr. Persico, who is a welder, was convicted of drunken driving as a misdemeanor in Southampton Village in 2008, the charge against him is a felony. Justice Lisa R. Rana told him at his morning arraignment that the district attorney’s office had requested bail be set at $20,000, and asked him if he had anything to say.

“I’ve been here my whole life,” he answered. “I’m not going anywhere. I did what I did.”

Justice Rana lowered the bail amount to $5,000, which was posted. Members of Mr. Persico’s family who were present for the arraignment disputed the misdemeanor charges afterward, saying that Mr. Persico did in fact have a prescription for the Zaleplon.

Driving while intoxicated, this time at the misdemeanor level, was also the charge against a Manhattan-based 34-year-old photographer, who was arrested in East Hampton Village early Saturday morning.

Village police stopped Dawidh Orlando’s westbound 2016 Chevrolet on Woods Lane for doing 64 miles per hour in a 30 m.p.h. zone, they said, adding that he had failed roadside sobriety tests. He consented to the breath test back at Cedar Street headquarters, with a reported reading indicating an alcohol-blood content of .09 of 1 percent.

He was released later that day without bail, but with a date on Justice Rana’s criminal calendar.