Police & Courts

Patchita Tennant broke down in tears on the witness stand Wednesday morning as she recounted the months leading up to the night when she shot and seriously injured her longtime boyfriend.  

Patchita Tennant stood silent until the foreman of the jury finished reading the verdict: not guilty on attempted murder and first-degree assault charges in the shooting of her longtime boyfriend, Andrew Mitchell. 

Reports included a missing driveway gate, a fallen neighbor's tree, a man drunk and disorderly, and a Springs prowler.

It was an emotional day in court on Tuesday as Patchita Tennant took the stand to tell her side of what happened the night she shot her boyfriend, Andrew Mitchell. 

Courthouses throughout Suffolk County, including East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village Justice Courts, are closing amid the spread of COVID-19, but the case against Patchita Tennant, a former East Hampton CVS manager accused of trying to murder her boyfriend, will press on.

Andrew Mitchell took the stand Friday morning, giving the jury its first glimpse into what happened on the evening of Sept. 5, 2019, when his longtime girlfriend, Patchita Tennant, shot him three times. 

Eric Aboulafia, the Suffolk County assistant district attorney prosecuting Patchita Tennant on attempted murder charges, began his argument on Monday with a question to the jury: “What does it feel like to have these words aimed at you: ‘I’m going to kill you, then kill myself’?”   

Ten pieces of assorted lumber, stacked on sawhorses at Vincent Fiore’s Crassen Boulevard property, were stolen sometime between Feb. 15 and 18.

An East Hampton man was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated last Thursday morning after his pickup truck hit a cement pillar, part of a small bridge on Old Stone Highway in Springs.     

As Patchita Tennant's trial on attempted murder charges began in Riverhead on Monday, six witnesses took the stand for the prosecution, including the Southampton Town police dispatcher who answered the victim's 911 call after the shooting.

Sag Harbor Village police this week investigated a threat of violence that was said to have been made by a Pierson Middle and High School student, ultimately finding it to be without credibility

Lisa Rooney appeared briefly before the new judge assigned to her fatal drunken driving case in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead on Friday morning. 

A transmitter was stolen on the morning of Feb. 24 while a worker was marking underground utilities on Baiting Hollow Road.

Randy Hoffman has a challenging time ahead, but he is buoyed by the good will of so many neighbors and colleagues. “People are really good,” he said, and “as soon as I can get back to working on the ambulance, I want to do that.” 

East Hampton Town police charged the manager of the Springs Tavern on Saturday with two misdemeanors, saying he had someone working as security, checking identifications, despite not having the proper license, and that alcoholic beverages were not properly stored.   

Another motorist reported an erratic driver heading west on Montauk Highway back on Feb. 11, leading to a drunken-driving arrest of a man previously convicted for the same offense.   

East Hampton Town police are investigating a single-vehicle crash that left a woman dead on Wednesday morning. 

East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana issued a split decision on Monday in the case of Colleen Moeller, the owner of the Petit Bleu children’s store in East Hampton Village who had been cited with two code violations for placing stuffed animals and a chalkboard at the entrance to her Park Place shop. 

Arrests were down in 2019, according to the East Hampton Town Police Department’s annual report, released on Monday. Over all, arrests were down sharply, to 607, from 809 in 2018, though calls for service were up slightly — 18,680 versus 18,079 the year before.     

Patchita Tennant refuses a plea deal, insisting she shot her boyfriend in self-defense.

The case against Joseph A. Grippo, accused of stabbing and beating Robert Casado with a pickax in Montauk’s Kirk Park last June, is likely headed for trial.     

When Lisa Rooney appears in court next week she will do so in a different courtroom, before a different judge.     

After buying a new hot tub to replace an old one at her Guernsey Lane property, Barbara Zack noticed that someone had been using the new one over the last few months without her permission.

A 21-year-old man who East Hampton Town police said was driving drunk crashed a Cadillac into a utility pole early Saturday morning, breaking it in half.     

Police said Justin Williams, 23, of Middle Island cased the houses while working in the area.     

The owner of a 10,000-square-foot house at 145 Neck Path in Springs has agreed to pay a $32,000 fine to the Town of East Hampton after using the house last summer for parties.

Three commercial fishermen returned safely to East Hampton last week after a scary morning at sea about 25 miles south of Fire Island.     

A Flanders man who confessed late last month to stealing trees from a Peconic Land Trust property in Northwest has been hit with more charges.

Someone has been using a backyard grill on Laforest Lane while the owner is away, according to a report filed on Monday. The owner said he found the grill in a different condition than when he left it.

A Montauk man with a history of drunken driving was charged with two felonies last week after police found him driving drunk again, this time with his 12-year-old son in the car.