From a roadside encounter prompted by a spicy snack to a Christmas morning rescue that could have ended far worse, last week’s police blotter captured the full range of late-December life on the North Fork. There were awkward calls for help that weren’t quite police matters, multiple DWI arrests and moments when quick action by first responders made all the difference.
Dec. 22 – Around 4 a.m., a Southold police patrol officer notice a car parked on the side of the road in front of a brewery on Main Road in Southold, and approached the driver, according to a police report. A 19-year-old Cutchogue man, at the wheel told police that “he was stopped because he wasn’t feeling good after eating a spicy chip.” The driver told police he was coming from a friend’s house, where he had had “a few” beers, but then passed field sobriety tests. Due to his age, the officer escorted the young man home. The vehicle was locked and left on the side of the road, according to a report.
Dec. 23 – Just before 6 a.m., police received a 911 hang up call from someone who appeared “agitated” on the phone, but would not divulge “the reason he was calling … and asking for an officer,” before hanging up. He then called the non-emergency line with similar results, according to a report. A responding police sergeant and officer were flagged down near the IGA in Greenport. Police identified the 51-year-old Greenport man “from prior interactions,” according to a police report, which noted that the man appeared agitated was possibly under the influence of alcohol. The man “initially was not clear in regards with what he was trying to report, but essentially wanted officers to assist him in trying to catch a significant other allegedly cheating on him.” The man was advised that “this was not a police matter unless a domestic incident had occurred.” He then “walked off because he was unhappy police would not assist him,” according to the report.
Dec. 24 – Just after midnight, Maycon Rosales-Gonzalez, 31, of Mattituck was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated, following an anonymous report of a vehicle failing to maintain its lane traveling westbound on Main Road in Mattituck. A responding officer located a car matching the description and watched as it turned right onto Wickham Ave. “The vehicle then stopped in the middle of the road,” according to a police report. Rosales-Gonzalez was identified “by his suspended [state] learner permit,” the report said, and transported to police headquarters for processing.
Dec. 25 – Around 9 a.m., Southold police and firefighters responded to a report of a fire on South Harbor Road in Peconic. First responders located an 82-year-old Stony Brook woman lying about 50 yards from a vehicle that had “burned down to bare metal.” She sustained burns to her wrist and elbow and showed signs of possible hypothermia, and was initially unable to tell first responders where she was or how she got there. Stony Brook medics assessed the woman at the scene and airlifted her to a nearby hospital. Upon further investigation, it appears that the woman had backed into the woods, where her vehicle became stuck on a downed tree. Apparently, her exhaust may have ignited leaves and pine needles in a fire which eventually engulfed the car. The woman was able to escape the burning car and walk to a dirt road, where she laid down before help arrived.
Around 8:30 p.m., Sean Rodger, 49, of Cutchogue was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated, following an accident in which his car struck a pole near Bridge Lane and Oregon Road in Cutchogue, and caught fire, according to a police report. Roger told police that he “took the turn too fast” and hit the pole, according to a report, which said he was determined to be intoxicated, arrested and taken to a local hospital for medical evaluation before being processed at police headquarters.
All individuals named in police reports are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Charges may be reduced, dismissed or result in an acquittal.