Christopher Ryder of Montauk, 63, was driving west on Montauk Highway near Beech Street in the hamlet last Thursday when, East Hampton Town police said, his 2001 Ford crossed the double yellow line. After pulling him over, officers also noted that his license plate was not properly illuminated and that he’d failed to signal a right turn into a parking lot.
The driver’s eyes were “bloodshot and glassy,” police reported; his speech was slurred, he was unsteady when asked to stand up, and he performed “poorly” on field sobriety tests. He consented to a chemical test, the result of which was redacted in the report.
After a search of his records, police reportedly found a prior driving-while-intoxicated conviction from 2016. East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky arraigned Mr. Ryder on a charge of drunken driving with a prior conviction in the past 10 years, a class-E felony. He was released on his own recognizance, per New York State bail reform laws, and is to return to Justice Court on Oct. 31.
Adrian Vinicio Ortiz-Zhizhin of Mastic, 27, was arrested on the same charge on Sept. 30. He was allegedly found in a parked car on Queens Lane in East Hampton, asleep in the driver’s seat with the key in the ignition.
He too showed signs of intoxication and failed the roadside sobriety test, police said, adding that a search of his criminal history turned up a D.W.I. conviction in 2018. Justice Tekulsky arraigned Mr. Ortiz-Zhizhin the next day, releasing him on his own recognizance, again per bail reform laws, to be back in court on Oct. 30.