Skip to main content

Had Three Prior Convictions

Thu, 06/23/2022 - 10:49

An East Hampton man with three prior driving-while-intoxicated convictions within the past 15 years was charged with felony D.W.I. on the afternoon of June 10.

David Weinzweig, 44, who was jailed following his appearance the next morning in East Hampton Justice Court, was eastbound in a 1997 Ford pickup truck on Buckskill Road near Stephen Hand’s Path, when a nearby town police officer heard a loud crash. The officer found the truck, which had no license plates, crashed against a telephone pole. Mr. Weinzweig was getting out from the driver’s side. When he spotted the officer he ran away, according to the report, despite being yelled at to stop multiple times.

He was stopped in his tracks by a fence, and the officer was able to bring him back to the scene of the accident. On the floorboard of his truck, police found an open bottle of alcohol, and reported that Mr. Weinzweig had failed the roadside sobriety tests.

The charge was raised to the felony level because of the three prior convictions. A misdemeanor charge was added because the truck was not equipped with an interlock device. Town Justice Steven Tekulsky arraigned the driver in the morning and remanded him to county jail. He is to be back in Justice Court on Wednesday.

Pedro Gonzales-Rojas, 40, blamed the backup camera in his 2018 black Ford pickup truck for a June 13 lunchtime accident in a public parking lot off Montauk Highway near Skimhampton Road, East Hampton. The camera “was wrong,” he told police, after backing into a parked car in the lot. The officer, however, reported smelling alcohol on his breath, and said he performed poorly on the field sobriety tests.

Mr. Gonzales-Rojas was subsequently charged with aggravated drunken driving after a breathalyzer test produced a blood-alcohol reading over .18 percent, more than twice the legal level. He was held for an appearance the next day before Justice Tekulsky, who released him on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on July 14.

Early on Friday morning, Marco Gutamapillco, 22, of Montauk, was charged with misdemeanor D.W.I. His 2014 blue Subaru S.U.V. had been southbound on Old Stone Highway in Springs when it veered off the road and into several trees. An officer found the driver next to the vehicle, which had flipped over onto the shoulder.

Mr. Gutamapillco’s speech was slurred, according to the report, and he was unsteady on his feet. He complained of neck pain, and was taken by ambulance to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, which released him the next morning after treatment. He was arraigned yesterday

Long Days on the Fire Line In Orange County

East Hampton and Amagansett firefighters volunteered to head north last week to help fight a 5,000-acre wildfire in Orange County, N.Y., not once but twice, battling unfamiliar terrain to do so. “They fight fires completely differently than we do when we have a brush fire,” the Amagansett chief said.

Nov 21, 2024

Awards for Good Policing in Handgun Scuffle

“It could have gone worse. We’re lucky that I have officers here that weren’t shot,” said Police Chief Jeff Erickson at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting. Chief Erickson was recognizing Sgt. Wayne Gauger and Officers John Clark and Robbie Greene for a traffic stop on Aug. 31 that turned into a scuffle and the eventual confiscation of an illegal gun.

Nov 21, 2024

On the Police Logs 11.21.24

A Three Mile Harbor Drive resident reported an online dating scam on the afternoon of Nov. 16. Somehow, said the 80-year-old man, a person on the dating platform had gotten his phone number and demanded $2,000 from him, threatening to tell his family he was using the site if he did not comply. Police told the man to block the number.

Nov 21, 2024

Head-On Collision on Route 27

A 2-year-old was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital following a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on State Route 27 near Upland Road in Montauk.

Nov 21, 2024

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.