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The Sign Was Not Enough

Thu, 03/24/2022 - 10:07

Gabrielle Murphy of Kingston, N.Y., 32, was westbound on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk around dinnertime on March 13, when, according to the police report, she drove off the road and hit a street sign.

The sign was not enough to stop her 2010 Subaru, which continued through dense brush, then across the Lincoln Road turnoff, and then into an adjacent wooded lot, before being stopped by a tree.

The officer who spoke with Ms. Murphy, who’d hit her head and was bleeding, detected a strong odor of alcohol on her breath and reported that she performed poorly on roadside sobriety tests. Charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, she appeared in East Hampton Justice Court the next morning, and is expected back there today.

Just before midnight last Thursday, Sag Harbor Village police were watching as 39-year-old Jose Gomez-Diaz of that village, driving a  2005 Chevy van, allegedly engaged in multiple traffic infractions.

As the van turned south onto Hampton Street from Eastville Avenue near the Gulf gas station, police said, it swerved into the northbound lane, just missing an oncoming car. It then swerved back, and stopped in front of the service station for a while before the driver, without signaling, made an abrupt turn into the station, where police came up behind.

An officer, noticing an open bottle of Modelo beer in the cupholder, asked the driver to exit and perform sobriety tests. Mr. Gomez-Diaz was unsteady on his feet, smelled of alcohol, and reportedly admitted to drinking five beers. Police removed two open bottles of Modelo from the vehicle.

Mr. Gomez-Diaz submitted to a “pre-screening device” that registered a blood-alcohol content of .085 percent. Taken to Sag Village Police headquarters, he refused three times to submit to a chemical test. He was transferred to East Hampton Town police headquarters in Wainscott, held overnight, and arraigned in the morning. He is to appear in Sag Harbor Village Court on April 22.

Early Sunday morning, police observed a 2021 Hyundai driving north on Old Stone Highway in Springs without benefit of headlights, and pulled it over. Sarina Peddy of New York City, 32, was at the wheel, smelling strongly, police said, of alcohol. She was eventually charged with D.W.I., a misdemeanor, and held for a court appearance later that morning. Released on her own recognizance, she is due back in town court on April 14.C.G.

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