Police & Courts

A 17-year-old girl fell victim to an online scam when she attempted to sell a prom dress on the website Poshmark on April 14. She ultimately sent more than $1,000 in Apple gift cards, thinking there was an error with her account after receiving an email from the company that turned out to be fake. An investigation is still ongoing.

A smattering of news involving the village's Police and Emergency Services Departments came out of an East Hampton Village Board meeting that was otherwise focused on avoiding the need for residents to call the police for noise complaints in the historic district.

A 27-year-old East Hampton woman was injured overnight when she crashed her car into a tree on Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road, East Hampton Town police said Thursday morning.

Squirrels, porch pirates, injured seals, drones, missing White Claws, and more in this week's police logs.

On Pantigo Road near Bostwick’s, a 38-year-old man who appeared to be intoxicated was questioned by police on the afternoon of April 7. He said he wasn’t causing trouble, just canvassing businesses looking for work. Police drove him back to his house. Eight days before, the same man had been seen opening a storage shed and walk-in cooler behind Rowdy Hall in Amagansett, and he was later accused of taking 20 containers of beer and four containers of iced tea. According to the official report, petty larceny charges may be pending.

The Suffolk County Police Department on Wednesday identified a woman killed in a hit-and-run crash on Monday as Alison Pfefferkorn of Sag Harbor.

Crews from five volunteer fire departments battled a basement blaze, and two more stood at the ready in case further help was needed, late Thursday night at a house on Ely Brook to Hand's Creek Road in the Northwest Woods section of East Hampton.

On March 27, a previously confidential legal document related to an ongoing complaint by Police Officer Andrea Kess against East Hampton Town and its Police Department became public when it was filed in a federal court as evidence in a new civil rights lawsuit, brought by Lt. Peter Powers of the town police. Lieutenant Powers is charging that the document, known as a “position statement,” has harmed his professional and personal reputation.

Police responded to the East Hampton I.G.A. shortly after 5 p.m. on April 1 after the manager called in a report of an “unwanted guest.” After an investigation, a 38-year-old man was arrested and charged with two counts of petty larceny: one for taking 24 cans of beer and leaving without paying for them; the other for taking a white Huffy bicycle that did not belong to him. He was released on his own recognizance to await a court date.

East Hampton Town police have levied felony charges against three drivers on local roads within the last two weeks.

A 48-year-old Brooklyn man was seen and heard knocking on doors at Daunt’s Albatross Motel at around 1 a.m. Saturday, and police were summoned. The man was discovered to have an active arrest warrant out of New York Police Department jurisdiction. He was taken to the railroad station to catch the next westbound train.

At his house in East Hampton Village, a 61-year-old man dropped a lighted cigarette on the floor, sparking a minor fire-and-smoke situation. The fire chief described the extent of the damage as “smoldering clothing.”

The East Hampton Village Fire Department doesn’t usually respond to fires in the middle of the Ozark Mountains, but in a sense, after donating a Spartan pumper fire truck, replete with 4,000 feet of hose and a 500-gallon water tank, to the Eminence Area Volunteer Fire Department in Missouri Friday, it’s done just that.

The Suffolk County Regional Emergency Services Council voted on March 12 to expand the operating territory of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Department to include the Northwest Fire Protection District and the East Hampton Water Supply Area. This came after a contentious public hearing at LTV Studios on Feb. 16.

In 2023, for 911 calls classified as "highest priority," the East Hampton Town Police Department's average response time was 5 minutes, 38 seconds. Officers made 163 drunken-driving arrests, assisted on 2,530 medical calls and nearly 1,800 fire-related emergencies, and logged 12 "use of force" incidents over the 12-month period. Those were just a few of the statistics presented by Chief Michael Sarlo to the East Hampton Town Board last week, capping off a year of protecting 70 square miles from Wainscott to Montauk.

A 37-year-old Montauk man attempted to make a fire in a barrel at the Montauk Skate Park to "grill some burgers while he and friends skated" on the afternoon of March 13. Someone called the police, who told the man it was against the rules. He apologized and put the fire out.

The Village of Sag Harbor and its police chief, Austin J. McGuire, have signed a separation agreement that allows Mr. McGuire to retire on Friday, March 29, despite his efforts to remain in the post.

Police were called Friday afternoon to investigate a report that people were camping illegally in the Grace Estate Preserve. They came upon three men from Nassau County who’d put up a tent and built a campfire. Police told them to put out the fire, then issued a ticket for open burning and directed them to leave immediately.

A 29-year-old East Hampton woman went to police headquarters on March 4 to report being the victim of sexual assault, stemming from an incident on Feb. 23 at a house in town.

The New York State Assembly is considering the Deadly Driving Bill, which would change the definition of “drug” in state law to include “any substance or combination of substances that impair, to any extent, physical or mental abilities,” making it easier to prosecute drug-related driving violations. Right now, if police cannot ascertain just what substance is involved, they may not be able to make an arrest in the first place.

A 28-year-old Amagansett woman was arrested Friday afternoon on felony charges of larceny, stemming from a Feb. 15 incident at the M&T Bank branch on Newtown Lane in East Hampton Village.

On Feb. 26, a few minutes before midnight, an officer patrolling Sag Harbor's Long Wharf discovered that a car had smashed into a wooden guardrail. Surveillance camera footage revealed that the damage was caused by a driver who, the very next day but in an unrelated incident, was charged with driving while intoxicated.

“Artistic vandalism.” That’s how a police officer initially described the carved tree trunk he found late Saturday night in the parking lot of Amagansett’s Big Albert’s Beach, while patrolling the area for illegal dumping, which has been a problem for police lately.

A 16-year-old girl from Massachusetts accidentally hit the gas pedal too hard while making a three-point turn on South Essex Street near South Etna Avenue in Montauk on Feb. 20, causing her minivan to crash through a split-rail fence, drop off an eight-foot ledge, and land upside down.

A woman using her backyard hot tub on Hand’s Creek Road was accused by a neighbor Sunday morning of being naked outdoors. When police arrived to investigate the report of a “nude person,” the woman answered the door wearing a bathing suit and towel. “No police action necessary,” the officer concluded.

Two men were charged with felony drunken driving over the last two weeks, one in Amagansett and the other in Sag Harbor.

Scott Frankenbach, a Sag Harbor Village police officer, was named the village’s Officer of the Year. “He’s been an asset to us ever since he was hired,” said Lt. Robert Drake.

Five cars were ticketed on the evening of Feb. 14 for parking illegally on Church Street near Buell Lane, in the vicinity of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton Village, following a complaint from a nearby resident. There was an Ash Wednesday service taking place at the time.

East Hampton's Officer of the Year award is given in memory of Sgt. Ryan P. Lynch, who died of cancer in 2005 after serving on the town force for 10 years. For 2023, the honoree is Officer William Hamilton.

Driving while intoxicated, usually a misdemeanor, is elevated to a felony charge when a child is in the vehicle at the time, under New York State's Leandra's Law.