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Long Time Without a License

Thu, 05/23/2019 - 07:11

A 65-year-old man who spent 34 years without a driver’s license following his first arrest for drunken driving was charged with the same offense on Sunday, this time with an additional charge of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a felony.

The East Hampton Town police officer who stopped William S. Totino of East Hampton at the intersection of Montauk Highway and Old Montauk Highway on Napeague at about midnight discovered that his license had been revoked in 1982 and never renewed, Capt. Chris Anderson said this week. Back at headquarters in Wainscott, Mr. Totino reportedly refused to take the blood-alcohol test.

Mr. Totino told East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky at his arraignment later that morning that he was a television executive working on a $63 million program. The court noted that he had had three other drunken-driving arrests, all during the 1980s. Because there have been no such charges within the last 10 years, however, the current charge is at the misdemeanor level.

Though prosecutors requested more, bail was set at $1,000 cash, and Mr. Tot­ino was released, with a future date on the criminal calendar.

Police leveled a D.W.I. charge against Gustabo Lucero of East Hampton, 31, at about 8 a.m. last Thursday, after spotting him on Route 114 in East Hampton near Stephen Hand’s Path driving a 2006 Dodge with significant damage and missing a front tire. The passenger windows were shattered, there was damage to both passenger-side doors, and there were sparks coming from a wheel rim.

However, police were unable to determine where and when the car had been in an accident. Neighboring police departments had no reports of accidents in their jurisdictions.

Mr. Lucero, who was not injured, performed poorly on field sobriety tests and appeared intoxicated, according to the report. He was arraigned later that morning before Justice Tekulsky, who released him on $500 bail with a date to return to court.

Glen P. O’Brien, 64, of Malverne, was also charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated last week. Town police said his 2010 Chevrolet had failed to keep right while turning on West Lake Drive in Montauk Friday just before 10 p.m. and that he failed a roadside sobriety test. He too was released on $500 bail.

Long Days on the Fire Line In Orange County

East Hampton and Amagansett firefighters volunteered to head north last week to help fight a 5,000-acre wildfire in Orange County, N.Y., not once but twice, battling unfamiliar terrain to do so. “They fight fires completely differently than we do when we have a brush fire,” the Amagansett chief said.

Nov 21, 2024

Awards for Good Policing in Handgun Scuffle

“It could have gone worse. We’re lucky that I have officers here that weren’t shot,” said Police Chief Jeff Erickson at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting. Chief Erickson was recognizing Sgt. Wayne Gauger and Officers John Clark and Robbie Greene for a traffic stop on Aug. 31 that turned into a scuffle and the eventual confiscation of an illegal gun.

Nov 21, 2024

On the Police Logs 11.21.24

A Three Mile Harbor Drive resident reported an online dating scam on the afternoon of Nov. 16. Somehow, said the 80-year-old man, a person on the dating platform had gotten his phone number and demanded $2,000 from him, threatening to tell his family he was using the site if he did not comply. Police told the man to block the number.

Nov 21, 2024

Head-On Collision on Route 27

A 2-year-old was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital following a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on State Route 27 near Upland Road in Montauk.

Nov 21, 2024

 

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