It was a week of drifting boats, beeping garbage cans and a bus stop standoff that went nowhere fast, as Southold police chased down everything from a runaway skiff in New Suffolk to a misplaced wallet riding shotgun on a car roof in Greenport. Along the way: a burn barrel mistaken for a brush fire, a thumb drive was investigated and a late-night apartment visit ended with one guest walking out and another heading to the hospital — just another stretch of early spring days and nights on the North Fork.
April 13 – Around 7 a.m. a Southold police marine unit responded to a report of a skiff drifting in the water off the end of Old Harbor Road in New Suffolk. A responding officer secured the skiff, anchoring it along the shoreline south of Wickham Creek, according to a police report. It was determined to belong to Shagwong Marina. Marina staffers responded to retrieve the vessel.
Around 7 p.m., police were called to the grounds of a gun club on Cox Lane in Cutchogue, where a member club board reported that an ex-member was on the property and refused to leave. The board member said the ex-member, 88, from East Marion, was suspended from the club over a year ago and “is not welcome there.” The ex-member, who had left the property by the time an officer arrived, told the police that he was “suspended for a year and the year is now over.” He said he had been a member of the club for 16 years and was there to submit a new application and member dues. He was advised however, that as of now, the club’s board stated that he is not allowed on the grounds. The ex-member agreed to stay off the property, according to a report.
Around 7:30 p.m., police and Cutchogue firefighters received a report of a possible brush fire near Sang Lee Farms, but after responding couldn’t locate any smoke or fire. Police dispatchers reconnected the complainant, who was unsure of the exact location and said the smoke could have been coming from the town landfill, so police and firefighters headed there, but again found no smoke and no fire. Firefighters ultimately tracked the source of the smoke to a burn barrel on Middle road in Cutchogue. The fire was contained within the barrel and “fell within the exemptions of the current burn ban. The property owner responded and extinguished the fire, according to a report.
Around 8:15 p.m., police responded to a location on Main Road in Southold, for a report of a male passenger causing a disturbance on a public bus. Upon arrival, the bus driver told police that a passenger was “yelling at him because [he] parked the bus approximately 100 feet west of the bus stop in front of Feather Hill. The driver told the passenger he does this so as not to block the entrance to the shopping plaza. Police interviewed the complaining passenger, who refused to identify himself and claimed that “the bus driver was being racist to white people” and that the bus driver yelled at him. A responding officer offered the passenger a ride to his destination but he refused, according to a report. The driver stated the passenger is allowed to stay on the bus, and would continue along his route. He was advised to contact police if there was another encounter with the passenger.
Around 9 p.m., police were called to an apartment complex on North St. in Greenport, where an 81-year-old tenant well known to police requested assistance ejecting two people, also well known to the police, from his apartment. When police arrived, one of the two guests left without incident, while the second, who was “highly intoxicated,” according to a police report, was escorted to a local hospital.
April 14 – Around 11:30 a.m., police responded to the corner of Sterling Place and Champlin Place in Greenport, for a report of a boat in the roadway. The boat had slid off a trailer being towed by a truck. The trailer “was unregistered with no license plates,” according to a report. Staff from Safe Harbor Marina arrived to assist in getting the boat back onto the trailer. The driver of the truck, who owns the boat, was issued summonses for the unregistered trailer, according to a report.
Around 5 p.m., a Greenport woman reported losing her wallet, somewhere near a convenience store on the corner of Front and Third. A quick-thinking officer sought and received the convenience store security camera footage. Mystery solved. The footage captured the woman pulling out of the parking lot with the wallet on the roof of the car. But a canvass of the area failed to turn up the wallet, so the woman filled out of a form for a lost driver’s license.
Around 6:30 p.m., police received an anonymous tip saying someone had left a window open at the post office on Front St. in Greenport. Police responded, secured the window and left a message for the postal employee.
April 15 – Around 8:30 a.m., police received a strange report of a audible alarm beeping in a garbage can on Main Road in Southold. Responding officers quickly cracked the case: they found two discarded smoke alarms and disabled them.
Around 7:30 p.m., police were called to a residence on Front St. in Greenport, for a report from a homeowner that a mail carrier had taken an envelope addressed to her and containing $400 cash from her mailbox. Police again relied on security camera footage and observed the mail carrier removing the envelope, which was addressed to the homeowner. The video appeared to show that the mail carrier may have taken the envelope by accident. Police contacted the U.S. Postal Service and requested an interview with the carrier during his next shift.
April 16 – Around 9 a.m., police received a Flock camera hit for a vehicle with a suspended registration. An officer located the vehicle, initiated a stop, and allegedly determined that driver Jessica Harbes-McLoughlin, 43, of Northville, was operating the vehicle with a suspended driver’s license and a suspended registration for lack of insurance. The driver was issued a series of tickets, the license plates were seized and the car was towed, according to a police report.
Also around 9 a.m., Greenport Dept. of Public Works employees reported a vehicle parked on Moores Lane with a driver who appeared to be asleep. When a responding officer arrived, the driver was awake, according to a police report, and said that he was a Door Dash driver resting between deliveries.
Around noon, police were called to a bus company on Main Road in Greenport West for a report of an agitated male trying to get into the building. Bus company employees said the man wanted to file a complaint, but that there was no one on site authorized to take a complaint and given his agitation, the staffers were reluctant to let him into the building. The staff members said they told the man the proper procedure was to file a complaint with Suffolk County Transit, which — when it was explained to him by a police officer — the man agreed to do, and left without incident.
Around 3:15 p.m., police received a report of a vehicle driving erratically on North Road in Greenport West and “throwing garbage out the window.” Police located the vehicle owner, who told them a 32-year-old Greenport West man was driving. The Greenport West man “appeared agitated and stated ‘shame you didn’t see it’” to the officer, according to a police report. The vehicle owner was advised that no one should be throwing garbage out of moving vehicles.
April 17 – Around 10:30 a.m., police received a report of a vehicle driving through a red light on Middle Road. The vehicle was located near Cox Lane and Middle Road in Cutchogue, and a traffic stop was initiated. Deniss Monzonmontenegro, 21, of Greenport, was issued a series of summonses and advised to have a licensed driver come pick the vehicle up.
Around 10:30 p.m., police received a report of a vehicle failing to maintain its lane on Main Road in Laurel. A responding officer observed the vehicle “passing another vehicle in a manner consistent with the complaint.” The officer initiated a traffic stop and spoke to the driver, a 21-year-old Southold woman, who stated to police that she “was attempting to demonstrate to her friend the performance of the vehicle’s new tires.” No signs of impairment were detected, and the driver was advised to observe the rules of the road, according to a police report.
April 18 – Around 10 a.m., an officer on routine patrol was approached by a 32-year-old Southold woman in the parking lot at the southern end of Main St. in Greenport. The woman “stated a subject gave her a thumb drive several days ago but she was unsure what was on it. At the conclusion of the investigation, the thumb drive was found to be blank,” and returned to the woman, according to a report.
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.
