Texting and Pinot Noir Blamed for Pile-Up

According to East Hampton Town police, a Springs man, Richard M. Kostura, 65, was texting behind the wheel when he rear-ended another vehicle near midnight Saturday, leading to a three-car crash. He reportedly told the arresting officer that he had had a couple of glasses of pinot noir at Salivar’s in Montauk, and was headed home, although the accident took place on Montauk Highway, near Hedges Lane, in Amagansett.

Mr. Kostura, who was headed west on Montauk Highway in a 2007 Toyota, told police that “my wife texted me on the way home. I looked at my phone and was distracted, and hit the car in front of me.” That car, a 2010 Subaru driven by Patrena Yulande, was propelled into the rear of a 2015 Land Rover driven by Zaheen Mir, who told officers he was slowing down because of congestion, a statement corroborated by a witness. The witness added that the Toyota was swerving just before the accident.

Police said Mr. Kostura failed roadside sobriety tests and arrested him on a charge of driving while intoxicated. Back at headquarters, they said, a breath test produced a blood-alcohol reading of .19 of 1 percent, high enough to raise the charge to aggravated drunken driving.

In court the next morning, Mr. Kostura told East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky he was self-employed, partnering with his wife in an interior design firm. Noting that this was his first brush with the law and with a nod to his ties to the community, the court released him without bail.

Another man being arraigned on Sunday had an extensive criminal record, Justice Tekulsky said. Quincy J. Dunmore, of Manhattan, 38, was driving north on Hand’s Creek Road, police said, when he swerved into oncoming traffic, left the road, and crashed into a utility pole. With a drunken-driving charge against him pending in another jurisdiction and his driver’s license suspended, he was charged with felony unlicensed driving as well as misdemeanor D.W.I.

At the station house, his breath test produced a reading of .2, police said, raising the charge against him to aggravated D.W.I. When he was led into court in handcuffs in the morning he was clearly in pain, unable to rise from a seated position without help.

“Your extensive criminal record includes a felony conviction,” Justice Tekulsky noted. Mr. Dunmore told the judge he was just visiting the area, and was indigent.

Before the arraignments began, Justice Tekulsky had asked officers that the district attorney’s office be contacted for a bail recommendation, standard when there is a felony involved. He held off arraigning Mr. Dunmore until the end, waiting for the bail recommendation, which never came.

Reviewing the defendant’s criminal record and the fact that he had skipped several court dates, Justice Tekulsky told him that “it is clear that a significant amount of bail needs to be set to ensure your return to court,” and set it at $15,000. He asked Mr. Dunmore if he would be able to meet that bail. “No, sir,” the man answered, grimacing.

He has been held in the county jail in Riverside since then, and will be returned to East Hampton today to meet with a court-appointed lawyer from the Legal Aid Society. If not indicted by a grand jury, he will be released, with a future date on Justice Tekulsky’s criminal calendar.

Speeding on Main Street in Sag Harbor led to another Saturday-night D.W.I. arrest, again with a high blood-alcohol breath test reading. Sag Harbor Village police said they clocked Jhofre Shicay of Sag Harbor, 21, driving a 2003 Econoline Ford van, at 56 miles per hour in a 25 m.p.h. zone, and watched as the van crossed a double yellow line, ignoring a stop sign and failing to signal, as it turned onto Jermain Avenue. It finally hopped a curb near Archibald Way and came to a stop.

Mr. Shicay’s breath test produced a reading over the .18 level, police said, and he too was charged with aggravated drunken driving. He was released the next day with a date on East Hampton-Sag Harbor Justice Lisa R. Rana’s criminal calendar.

“I had a few beers at the Memory,” a Montauk man, Fausto I. Mateo, 22, who, according to police, had a cellphone in his hand when his 2004 Hyundai hit a concrete mailbox on Old Montauk Highway Sunday morning. “I was looking at my phone, and it caused me to veer off the roadway.”

Mr. Mateo, a lifelong resident of the hamlet, had the lowest reading of the week at .11. He was released without bail, to await a future date in court.