Unlicensed Driver Is Charged Again

A Montauk man was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday night after he allegedly collided with two cars on Amagansett Main Street and then drove off. It was the second such charge in the past five months for Jaime Javier Guaman-Marca, 30.

Mr. Guaman-Marca told the East Hampton Town police officers who caught up with his badly damaged vehicle soon after on Route 27 that he was headed east near Indian Wells Highway when another vehicle pulled out in front of his 2002 Nissan van. Trying to avoid a collision, he said, he swerved and lost control, crossed the road, and struck a 2004 Ford pickup truck parked on the westbound side. The van then spun around and hit another parked car, a 2011 Land Rover.

Police said the man failed roadside sobriety tests. He was transported to headquarters in Wainscott, where a breath test reportedly recorded his blood-alcohol level as .19 of 1 percent, high enough to trigger an elevated charge of aggravated D.W.I. The van was impounded.

In November, police said, they found Mr. Guaman-Marca asleep behind the wheel of a 2000 Mercury with its engine running, on the shoulder of Montauk Highway on Napeague near Old Montauk Highway. After that arrest, his breath test reportedly produced a .16 reading.

Mr. Guaman-Marca’s license had been suspended three times before then, police said. During his arraignment in November, Justice Steven Tekulsky set bail at $300, sternly warning the defendant that because of the D.W.I. charge his license was being suspended for the fourth time over. “You cannot drive,” Justice Tekulsky told him.

Justice Lisa R. Rana presided over Mr. Guaman-Marca’s Sunday arraignment. Coincidentally, the officer guarding him that day was the same one who made the November arrest.

In addition to the misdemeanor drunken-driving charges and a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, Justice Rana told the man, through a court translator, that he now faced a felony charge of unlicensed driving. She again suspended his driving privileges, telling Mr. Guaman-Marca that he was “very lucky” to be unhurt after his accident. “You have two D.W.I.s, both with high readings,” she said.

She set bail at $2,500, which was posted by a friend of the defendant at police headquarters. The current charges will be put on the court’s criminal calendar together with those from his previous arrest. Mr. Guaman-Marca will return to court on May 7.