Two Druken-Driving Arrests

Two men were arrested last weekend by East Hampton Town police on misdemeanor drunken-driving charges. 

A Northwest Woods resident, Adam S. Miller, 29, was behind the wheel of a 2017 Hyundai, headed west on Soak Hides Road in East Hampton early on Saturday when he allegedly blew through the stop sign at Springy Banks Road. “I had a glass of rye whiskey,” he reportedly told the officer who stopped the car.

He failed roadside sobriety tests and when he took a breath test at police headquarters it indicated .16 of 1 percent alcohol in his blood, twice the .08 level that defines intoxication in New York, police said.

Besides two misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charges, the first based on the arresting officer’s observations, the second on the breath test, Mr. Miller was also charged with unlicensed driving. Mr. Miller’s attorney, Steven Grossman, told East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana that Mr. Miller had simply forgotten to renew his license. She replied that before Mr. Miller could apply for a hardship license that would allow him to drive to and from work he would have to get that taken care of at the Department of Motor Vehicles. He was released without posting bail, because of his ties to the community. 

The other man arrested over the weekend was also released without bail. Town police alleged that George Figlia, 65, who maintains residences in Montauk and Manhattan, was driving a 2018 Land Rover north on North Main Street in East Hampton on Saturday night when he ran a red light at Cedar Street and made an illegal U-turn, driving across hazard markings in the middle of the road. Police said he then turned left onto Collins Avenue, followed by a right turn onto Accabonac Road, both times swerving into the oncoming lane of traffic. 

“We’re coming from dinner. I had one drink. Wine. Red wine,” he allegedly told the arresting officer. Besides drunken driving, Mr. Figlia is facing numerous moving violations. At headquarters, he refused to take the breath test, police said. He therefore is not eligible for a hardship license, Justice Rana told him Sunday morning, before releasing him with a future date on her criminal calendar.