Off Road and Into Flames

A Dover, Mass., man was arrested early Friday morning after running his 2004 Chevrolet into the sand on the side of Cranberry Hole Road near Promised Land in Amagansett. The car then burst into flames. East Hampton Town police found Leighton Booth nearby and administered sobriety tests, which he reportedly failed. He was charged with driving while intoxicated and taken to headquarters, where he refused to take a breath test.

At his arraignment later that morning, Justice Lisa R. Rana, before setting bail, asked Mr. Booth if he had any ties to the community. “He is visiting his grandmother, who has a residence off of Cranberry Hole Road,” his attorney, Rita Bonicelli, told the court. Bail was set at $750, and posted.

Another driver who refused a breath test was Philip E. Judson, 56, of Northwest Woods, who was charged on Saturday night after his 2011 BMW swerved into the oncoming lane on Three Mile Harbor Road, East Hampton, forcing an oncoming vehicle onto the shoulder to avoid a head-on collision. He was arraigned Sunday before Justice Steven Tekulsky, who released him without bail in recognition of his local ties.

Because of their refusals to take the breath test, both Mr. Booth and Mr. Judson were told their licenses had been suspended, and warned not to drive in New York State. The charges against both men are misdemeanors.

The one man who did take the breath test after an arrest during an otherwise calm week on the roads produced a very high reading, according to police. Shortly after midnight on June 13, Patrick Thomas Lien, 24, of Chatsworth, Calif., was driving a 2004 Honda on Montauk Highway near Abraham’s Landing Road in Amagansett when police pulled him over for swerving, and later also cited him for a variety of equipment violations.

His blood-alcohol breath test at headquarters was said to have produced a reading of .25, over three times the level that defines intoxication. Charged with misdemeanor aggravated D.W.I., he was arraigned the next morning, at which time Justice Rana noted that he had been arrested in California in 2010 on that state’s equivalent of D.W.I. She set bail at $1,000, which was posted.