Police & Courts

Zane Kitburi had only lived in Montauk for about a month, trading his longtime bartending position at Indochine, a popular Vietnamese restaurant in New York City, for jobs at the Surf Lodge and Roberta’s.

A man and a woman, and a group of their friends, told police they’d been thrown out of the bar at the Memory Motel for no good reason. Witnesses, however, told the officers they’d taken videos of the incident, which police said showed the woman fighting with a bouncer after he tried to eject her intoxicated male friend.

Several recent accidents on local roads involved young drivers.

Update: A difficult-to-reach brushfire in state parkland between the Walking Dunes and Goff Point at the western edge of Hither Woods burned 20 to 25 acres of grassland Friday night, according to Montauk Fire Chief Scott Snow. At 1:25 p.m. Saturday, East Hampton emergency dispatch confirmed that the fire had reignited.

Randall Crater "saw the burgeoning popularity of crypto as a chance to get rich quick through an unscrupulous fraud scheme cloaked by flashy marketing tactics and outright lies," a federal prosecutor said Thursday in announcing Mr. Crater's conviction on charges of wire fraud and other illegal monetary transactions. His trial was held in U.S. District Court in Boston.

High summer, with its attendant apocalyptic traffic and legion of flustered motorists, hit its stride this week as numerous vehicular accidents were logged by police. Victims included a tree, a deer, a utility pole, and a shopping cart.

A photographer told police Saturday afternoon that he was being harassed by someone who also worked as a paparazzo. He felt “threatened and scared,” he said, claiming that the man was following his car to events to take his own photos. The accused man told police he was just another paparazzo doing his job.

Sag Harbor police charged a woman with four drug-related misdemeanors after she was allegedly caught shoplifting at Love Shack Fancy, a Main Street shop, on the afternoon of July 11.

Three motorists were charged this week with driving while intoxicated, all three charges first-offense misdemeanors.

Benjamin Z. Kitburi was already unconscious when he was pulled from the water shortly after 7:30 p.m. by three nearby surfers, according to East Hampton Town police.

Joseph Grippo of Montauk, facing a trial for murder, took a plea deal on Monday to first-degree manslaughter for the killing of Robert Casado three years ago. 

Three men from away and two residents were charged over the past week with driving while intoxicated.

One hit-and-run collision was among this week's traffic accidents in Springs, East Hampton, and Montauk.

East Hampton Village officials called police on July 5 to report litter scattered along Buell Lane between Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church and the library — cups, water bottles, and other detritus. A caterer was initially suspected, but was eventually vindicated. Public Works employees came by to clean up the mess.

A confrontation over a parking spot at the Meadow Street lot in Sag Harbor led last Thursday to the arrest of an East Hampton woman.

East Hampton Village police on Sunday arrested six people affiliated with a Tax the Rich protest that traveled east from Southampton Village over the course of the weekend. Town police arrested six more people on Monday; all are facing charges of disorderly conduct, a violation.

According to the Southampton Town Police Department, an 11-year-old boy was struck by a pickup truck and killed on Townline Road in Sagaponack at 5:28 p.m. last Thursday.

Dr. Russell Windsor of Amagansett, a 70-year-old orthopedic surgeon, had been cycling in the vicinity of the Lobster Roll when, police said, he veered from the shoulder into the eastbound lane of traffic and was hit. As police investigated, Montauk Highway was closed for several hours in both directions.

The second big holiday weekend of the season brought with it numerous arrests for drunken driving, both in East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village.

A Georgica Road resident went to police on June 25 to document the theft of $20,000 worth of cooking utensils and china on June 25, stolen sometime since January. The house was being renovated, she said, and many different construction companies had been in and out. The missing items were stored in a cardboard box by the front door.

A man who refused to pay his food and drink bill at Rowdy Hall was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct, and “exposure of a person."

In one accident traffic was piling up and the driver had no time to stop, in another sun glare may have played a role, and in a third it was rain-slicked roads

The East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Amagansett Fire Departments responded Tuesday night to a structure fire at 171 Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton Village.

Update, July 3, 6 p.m.: East Hampton Town police said late Sunday afternoon that a 70-year-old bicyclist from Amagansett had died in an accident that closed Montauk Highway on the Napeague stretch earlier that day. 

Southampton Town police on Thursday afternoon received a call about a man who was seen slumped over the steering wheel of a white van in the parking lot of the Bridgehampton Commons shopping center.

A Montauk property owner accused by East Hampton Town of renting his house more than 50 times over nine months could be facing over $200,000 in fines after being issued dozens of appearance tickets for alleged violations of the town's rental registry law. His attorney says "there are lots of reasons why the town's case is not going to be acceptable to an East Hampton Town jury."

A South Burlington, Vt., man was arrested on Montauk Highway near Pantigo Place in East Hampton early on the morning of June 20 and charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, and no fewer than 16 traffic infractions.

Three recent traffic accidents on local roads resulted in injuries.

An anonymous caller reported last Thursday night that a man was chugging vodka from a “champagne-colored” GMC on Division Street in Sag Harbor. Officers found the vehicle and the man, who didn’t want to give them any personal information, but showed them the jug from which he’d been drinking water.

A Calverton man was charged with disorderly conduct and intoxication in Sag Harbor Sunday night after police were called to check on a fight at the Corner Bar.