Busy Police on the Roads

Motor vehicle accidents led to four driving while intoxicated arrests by local police last week, while a county campaign against drunken driving netted two arrests overnight Saturday. All but one of those arrested were charged with misdemeanors. 

On Oct. 4 in Sag Harbor, two accidents led to arrests on charges of drunken driving. The first occurred in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven on Long Island Avenue. According to police, Demetrio E. Sisalima Mancheno, 46, who has a Washington State driver’s license, but lives in the area, was driving a 2000 Toyota Tundra in the lot when he struck another vehicle. Mr. Sisalima Mancheno was reportedly standing beside the truck when police arrived. Failing roadside sobriety tests, he was arrested, with police saying an open bottle of Smirnoff vodka was in the cabin of the truck. 

A breath test to determine the amount of alcohol in Mr. Sisalima’s blood given at Division Street headquarters allegedly produced a reading higher than .18 of 1 percent, raising the misdemeanor to aggravated drunken driving. He was held overnight and released the next morning without having to post bail but with a date on Sag Harbor Village Justice Lisa R. Rana’s criminal calendar.

Four hours after that arrest, Cesar Bautista, driving a 2014 Chevrolet pickup truck, was involved in a three-car accident where Division Street runs into Hampton Street. No one was injured. Mr. Bautista, 55, a Sag Harbor resident, also failed sobriety tests, police said. Again, police said they found an open container of alcohol in the cabin of the truck. His breath test produced a reading of .22, raising his charge, as well, to the aggravated level. In addition, police charged Mr. Bautista with unlicensed driving, also a misdemeanor. He, too, was released the next morning without posting bail, due to his ties in the area.

On Saturday night, just minutes before the county-sponsored program that brings in officers from other East End jurisdictions, a crash on Cedar Street in East Hampton led to the arrest of Eduardo F. Castillo-Quinteros, 40. An assistant district attorney, Rudy Migliore Jr., told East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky during Mr. Castillo-Quinteros’s Sunday morning arraignment that, when arrested, his client had said, “I was driving on Cedar Street and hit the tree.” The car skidded into a driveway where police found him. He also allegedly said, “I had four beers.” According to police, he was driving a 2009 Nissan Altima when the vehicle veered off the road. He was unhurt.

A Springs resident, his breath test produced an alleged reading of .16, twice the .08 number that defines intoxication. “I am suspending your nonexistent privilege to drive. You didn’t have a license to begin with. You cannot drive,” Justice Tekulsky told the defendant, adding that if he were arrested and convicted on a new charge of unlicensed driving, he would be sentenced to jail. 

A Davenport, Fla., man, Carlos Gonzalez, 71, was arrested by East Hampton Village police last Thursday evening, after they received a complaint about an erratic driver. Driving a 2004 Dodge pickup truck, police said, he just missed striking several pedestrians crossing Woods Lane toward the Jewish Center of the Hamptons. Mr. Gonzalez then veered into several barricades on the side of the road before driving off, police said. Mr. Gonzales, who also was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, and a passenger had open bottles of Corona beer in the car, according to police. 

Armed with a description of the truck, police made the stop at the traffic light on Montauk Highway in Wainscott. A .11 reading at headquarters meant a night in a holding cell, police said. He was released the next day after posting $400 in bail. 

One of the two arrested on D.W.I. charges during the county sweep, which saw five extra officers patrolling the streets of East Hampton, was Claudia Solares, who is facing a felony charge. How serious the felony charge will be was unknown, with the district attorney’s office investigating the outcome of a prior arrest in 2013 by Michigan State University police on that state’s version of a drunken driving charge, driving under the influence. Ms. Solares, 31, an East Hampton resident, was pulled over by a Suffolk County sheriff for allegedly speeding on North Main Street in a 2008 Nissan. Her breath test produced a .11 reading, police said.

Right now, Ms. Solares is facing an E felony charge, because she was convicted in East Hampton on a drunken driving charge in 2010. An E felony is the lowest felony charge. If it turns out she was convicted following the Michigan arrest, making it two such over the last 10 years, the current charge will be raised to a more serious felony count. Bail was set at $1,000, which was posted.

According to East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael D. Sarlo, the sweep, which is paid for by the district attorney’s office, continued  for an eight-hour span. The officers came from police departments ­in East Hampton Village, South­ampton Town, the Suffolk County sheriff’s office, and the Sag Harbor and Quogue Villages, as well as the sheriff’s office.

Also arrested during the sweep was Cameron A. Ferdinand, 45. He was pulled over driving a 1996 Toyota on Montauk Highway by an officer from the Quogue Village Police Department for allegedly swerving across lane lines. Police said his breath test had a .12 reading. Though his license carries a Queens address, he told the court he now lives in Sag Harbor. Bail was set at $500, which was posted. 

A Bridgehampton woman, Jennifer Anne Woodason-Svarplaitis, was arrested early Friday morning by East Hampton Town police, just a few days be–fore turning 37. Police said the stop was made because the 2014 Chevrolet Cruz she was driving west on Montauk Highway near Daniel’s Hole Road had a headlight out. Police said she refused to take the breath test, causing Justice Rana, who was on the East Hampton bench Friday, to revoke her license for a year, pending a hearing by the Department of Motor Vehicles. She was released without posting bail.

An East Hampton resident, Oliver L. Dantes, 36, was charged with drunken driving Saturday night by Southampton Town police. He had been pulled over on Lake Avenue in Hampton Bays for an alleged equipment violation. He was released the next morning after being arraigned in the Southampton Town Justice Court.