D.W.I.s Continue Apace

An alleged drunken driver got some company in the back of an East Hampton Town police car on Aug. 18 after his friend interfered with an investigation.

The arresting officer said he approached a 2015 Nissan in the municipal parking lot off Amagansett Main Street at about 1:35 a.m. after seeing a man vomiting while sitting in the driver’s seat. The report said the man’s keys were in his lap and empty Corona beer bottles were strewn on the passenger-side floor.

Brian M. Kelly, 49, of Mattituck performed poorly on field sobriety tests, according to police. He was charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, at 2:15 a.m. 

Meanwhile, his friend Rory M. Knight, 41, of East Hampton disobeyed a police order and got into the car. He removed a set of keys despite the officer asking him to stop several times. Mr. Knight walked away but later returned and attempted to get into the vehicle a second time. That is when he was arrested and charged with obstruction of governmental administration in the second degree, a misdemeanor.

At police headquarters in Wainscott, at about 3:30 a.m., police found Mr. Kelly had an e-cigarette cartridge in a back pocket that contained a brown substance that later tested positive for marijuana. He was additionally charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, also a misdemeanor.

Justice Steven Tekulsky released both men on their own recognizance following arraignment later that day. 

In another drunken driving charge, a Sag Harbor man was arrested after hitting a utility pole on Route 114 in East Hampton in the early morning hours of Aug. 20. 

Maurizio Marfoglia, 52, was found standing outside his 2017 Ford sedan near the downed utility pole on South Breeze Drive at around 1:45 a.m. He told police he was driving north when he fell asleep and drifted off the road. The car struck a mailbox and a pole before coming to rest on the northbound shoulder of the road, facing south. He was not hurt, and had no passengers. He was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. Justice Tekulsky released him on his own recognizance. 

Joseph J. Ruggiero, 46, of Manhattan was arrested on a drunken driving charge on Saturday in Amagansett. Police said he was driving a 2010 Land Rover west on Montauk Highway near Dune Lane, when he failed to dim its high beams for oncoming traffic. He was pulled over at 1:45 a.m. and subsequently charged with D.W.I. Justice Lisa R. Rana released him on his own recognizance following arraignment.

In Sag Harbor Village, police arrested Joshua C. Carroll, 29, of Brooklyn on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. According to an officer, a 2018 Buick was headed north on Main Street when it failed to stop at the stop sign at the intersection with Bay Street at 1:35 a.m. Mr. Carroll allegedly admitted to having “two or three drinks.” He was released on $500 bail.