His Bail Is Set at $15,000

Early Sunday morning, following an alleged attack on two men on Amagansett’s Main Street, East Hampton Town police arrested William B. DePetris III, 26, on multiple charges including felony assault. Mr. DePetris, formerly of East Hampton but living recently in Holbrook, was unable to post $15,000 bail and was being held this week in the county jail in Riverside.

Besides the assault charge, he faces misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, as well as harassment and disorderly conduct, violations.

According to police, the first man he attacked, Leonides Olivencia, was scheduled to see a plastic surgeon yesterday afternoon at Southampton Hospital, to repair a fractured nose.

Mr. Olivencia, 34, a driver for Surf Taxi in Montauk, described the incident Monday. His description matched the one he gave to detectives on Sunday as he was being treated for his injuries in the hospital’s emergency room.

It was about 1 a.m., he said, and his cab, a 2005 Toyota, was parked outside the Stephen Talkhouse. Two cabs from other companies were parked there as well. The Talkhouse, along with Indian Wells Tavern and D’Canela restaurant, were still busy. With a friend identified only as Jamal, also a cab driver, Mr. Olivencia was walking toward D’Canela, looking for fares.

As they approached Indian Wells Tavern, said Mr. Olivencia, he saw a woman he recognized from their East Hampton High School days, Crystal, who was with a stocky, powerfully built man wearing a sweater. Mr. Olivencia later identified the man as Mr. DePetris. Crystal may be Mr. DePetris’s sister.

“Crystal and the guy were getting kicked out of the tavern,” Mr. Olivencia said. Mr. DePetris disappeared up one of the alleys between the buildings, he said, then returned. The two began walking towards Mr. Olivencia and Jamal.

“He was about an arm’s length from me, and he came at me really fast, and punched me at least twice in the face. I had a winter coat on, and he pulled it up from behind me, over my head, and threw me down onto the ground,” Mr. Olivencia told detectives at the hospital.

Mr. Olivencia believes Mr. DePetris, a man he said he had never met, targeted him because he is Latino. “Why me?” he asked on Monday.

Dazed and stunned, he was not sure how the attack ended. Semiconscious and unaware how badly he was hurt, he asked several young women leaving D’Canela if they needed a cab when he got back on his feet. They looked at him, said no, thanks, and got into another taxi. That was when he realized he had blood running down his face.

He got back into his cab, he said, feeling faint. “I felt like I was going to pass out. I could see that my nose was broken, because it was crooked.”

Mr. DePetris, who had again disappeared up an alleyway, came back. He had stripped off his sweater, another witness said, down to a tight tank-top T-shirt. The witness, Andres Jimbo, who had stepped out of D’Canela to smoke a cigarette with his uncle, told police Mr. DePetris was swinging a belt over his head.

“He had a brown leather belt in his hand,” Mr. Jimbo said. “He came up to me, looking for a fight. He was screaming, ‘Spanish pussies, you don’t want to fight me. Anyone, anyone.’ ” According to police, Mr. DePetris then struck Mr. Jimbo in the head with the metal end of the belt.

Police cars began arriving, both men said. Mr. Olivencia was in his cab; Mr. DePetris was in the middle of the street. An officer used a Taser on him to subdue him, and police were able to place him in handcuffs.

Mr. Olivencia drove away west in his taxi, intending to go to Southampton Hospital. When he reached Wainscott, however, he realized he could go no farther and turned off on Wainscott Northwest Road to town police headquarters. Police called for an ambulance.

Mr. Jimbo’s injuries were not as severe. He ended up with a welt and swelling on his head.

Mr. DePetris’s mother was in East Hampton Town Justice Court Sunday afternoon when he was arraigned. Before Justice Tekulsky entered the courtroom, mother and son exchanged a few words. “I don’t even know the story,” she said. “Neither do I,” he answered.

Because the Legal Aid Society does not send an attorney to East Hampton on weekends, Justice Tekulsky offered Mr. DePetris the option of deferring the arraignment. “Or, you can proceed on your own, and I will protect all your rights.” Mr. DePetris chose the latter course, and Justice Tekulsky entered a denial to the felony, and pleas of not guilty to the other charges.

“You have several prior arrests,” he told Mr. DePetris. “The dispositions of those charges are not clear. These are serious charges,” he said as he set the relatively high bail. Mr. DePetris, an Army veteran who was deployed to Iraq pleaded guilty in 2010 to a violation-level harassment charge after a fight in Sag Harbor.

“If the D.A.’s office fails to get an indictment by Thursday, you may be released,” Justice Tekulsky told the defendant. In most cases, those charged with felonies must be released if not indicted within 120 hours.

If Mr. DePetris is still in custody today and unindicted, he will be brought back to court here to meet with a Legal Aid Society lawyer before being freed. The possibility of indictment is ever present.

“I’ll testify,” Mr. Olivencia said Monday when asked if he would go before a grand jury. “What he did was wrong.” He normally works 14 hours a day, he said, and the money goes to support his sons. He is on painkillers, and has been told he will not be able to return to work for some time. Besides the broken nose, the bone between his nose and mouth is cracked, and he suffered numerous bruises to the right side of his body. He does not have health insurance, he said.