Tasered After Chase, Fight

A Sag Harbor man made a bad situation worse early Sunday morning, according to Southampton Town police. Kenneth Araya, 27, was driving on Noyac Road “at a high rate of speed,” police said, when an officer activated his emergency lights. The car kept going, however, leading police on a chase along side roads before finally coming to a stop on Peninsula Drive in Sag Harbor.

At the side of the road, according to the report, Mr. Araya fought with the officer, who was forced to use his Taser to subdue him. After being placed under arrest he was taken to Southampton Hospital for treatment, then released into police custody.

He was charged with driving while intoxicated, unlawfully fleeing a police officer, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, all misdemeanors, in addition to “numerous” traffic and vehicle violations.

It was not Mr. Araya’s first D.W.I. arrest. Southampton Town police leveled the same charge against him on May 20, 2012, after a stop on Ocean Road. In that matter, according to court records, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of driving with ability impaired by alcohol, a violation. It is unlikely that the district attorney’s office would accept a similar plea bargain this time around.

Bail was set in Southampton Town Justice Court at $15,000. Unable to post it, Mr. Araya was taken to the county jail in Riverside. Bail has since been posted.

Last Thursday night, an East Hampton Town officer spotted a car stopped on the west shoulder of Route 27 near its intersection with Old Montauk Highway in Montauk. The keys were in the ignition, and the engine was running, but the driver was fast asleep.

The officer awakened Jaime Javier Guaman-Marca of Montauk, 30, and had him perform roadside sobriety tests, which he failed. Back at headquarters his breath test reportedly resulted in a reading of .16 of 1 percent, twice the legal limit. Besides the drunken-driving charge, police said his driving privileges had been suspended three times over in recent months for failure to deal with various vehicular summonses, leading to a charge of unlicensed driving as well.

“It is true that you have some roots in East Hampton, but you don’t do what you are supposed to do,” East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky told the man at his arraignment the next morning. “You don’t answer tickets, and you were allegedly driving when you weren’t supposed to.” He set bail at $300, which was posted.

Town police also reported the arrest of Susan A. Reiland, 55, of East Hampton, last Thursday afternoon, on Wainscott Stone Road in Wainscott, saying she was pulled over for failing to yield. She was released the next morning without bail, but with a future date in court.

East Hampton Village police made two arrests on D.W.I. charges last week. Enzo M. Valfre, 66, of Sag Harbor was pulled over on Nov. 5 on Egypt Lane for failing to signal as he turned from Further Lane, police said. He was released the next day without bail.

A Stamford, Conn., man, Giorgios Kovlakas, 24, was stopped on Montauk Highway near Green Hollow Road early Sunday morning; police said he had been swerving across lane lines. He was arraigned later that morning and released without bail.

Finally, Southampton Town police charged a New York man with drunken driving on Saturday night in Sagaponack. Mihir Patel, 34, was released following his arraignment the next morning.