Felony D.W.I. Alleged

There were just two alcohol-related arrests on town roads over the last 10 days, one of which brought charges of felony drunken driving.

East Hampton Town police said they stopped Kaitlyn H. Buckley’s 2007 Lexus early Sunday morning on Bluff Road in Amagansett, near Atlantic Avenue, because it had a burnt-out headlight. Ms. Buckley, 42, of New York City, refused to take a roadside breath test and failed other field sobriety tests, according to the police report.

Taken to headquarters, she consented to take an Intoxilyzer 9000 breath test, which, unlike the roadside test, is admissible in court. Although police say she gave an insufficient breath sample, that test still produced a reading of .18 of 1 percent, high enough to trigger a charge of aggravated driving while intoxicated. However, because she was convicted of misdemeanor D.W.I. in 2010, the charge is now at the felony level.

She was arraigned later Sunday morning in East Hampton Town Justice Court, also the scene of the 2010 conviction. She told Justice Steven Tekulsky that while her driver’s license is from Massachusetts, where her parents live, she lives and works in Manhattan, and works occasionally in East Hampton, where she spends summers.

“Based on the serious nature of the charges, I am going to set $5,000 bail,” Justice Tekulsky told her. He asked if she would be able to post that amount.

“I’ll make some phone calls,” she responded. Bail was posted later that morning.

Giuseppe Maiello of Shirley, 34, was stopped a little after midnight on Sept. 9 on West Lake Drive in Montauk; police said they clocked him at 55 miles per hour in a 30 m.p.h. zone. He reportedly failed the field tests and refused to take the Intoxilyzer 9000 test at headquarters. Refusal brings an automatic revocation of a driver’s license for a one-year period, no matter the outcome of the case.

Mr. Maiello was released on his own recognizance following a morning arraignment.

A New York man who stays seasonally in Amagansett and works in Montauk was arraigned in East Hampton last Thursday after being charged by New York State police with drunken driving on Aug. 16. Arthur Blot-Lefevre, 38, who was stopped on Montauk Highway in Montauk, was said to have an Intoxilyzer reading of .12. His attorney, Tina Piette, obtained a hardship license for him, to allow him to drive to and from work.

That he was arraigned so long after his arrest is not unusual, given that state troopers, unlike local police, do not generally hold D.W.I. cases overnight, but release them with appearance tickets for arraignment at a later date.