A dramatic incident unfolded on Main Street in Greenport last week, where police say a Jamesport man ripped a restaurant sign “out of the ground and destroyed” it before refusing to show identification, behaving belligerently and ultimately proving too intoxicated and uncooperative to be fingerprinted or photographed.
On Aug. 25 around 8 p.m., Ethan Kreskowski, 35, of Jamesport was arrested in Greenport after he allegedly ripped out the sign and “destroyed” it, according to a police report. A restaurant owner contacted police to report the incident, and said the two men involved were at a nearby Main St. restaurant. When officers confronted Kreskowski and another man, 23, from Cutchogue, Kreskowski refused to show identification, according to a police report — though the other man did. After reviewing video evidence and a witness statement, police arrested Kreskowski and brought him to headquarters for processing, where according to police he was intoxicated, “highly uncooperative and irate,” and could not be fingerprinted or photographed.
Elsewhere last week, police and firefighters responded to a mulch fire at the town transfer station, a lithium-ion battery explosion in a Greenport home, and a brush fire in Orient involving a mysterious teen girl on a turquoise bike. Police also responded to calls about damaged property, reckless dirt bike riders in the village, and a beach confrontation involving angry parents and a piñata stick. Several drivers were arrested for alleged DWI across Southold Town, and one visitor to Greenport needed assistance after getting her foot stuck in a dock.
On Aug. 27, Southold police responded to a report of a fire at the town transfer station, which turned out to be mulch that caught fire in the dry, hot weather. Southold and Cutchogue firefighters responded and extinguished the blaze.
On Aug. 27, a Mattituck man reported that his mailbox on Sound Ave. had been struck and knocked over, and that and the vehicle fled the scene. Security camera footage showed what police described as a “white, ‘cab-over’ landscaping truck with a black dump bed” that was traveling westbound after striking the mailbox.
On Aug. 27, Michael Escobar Ardon, 20, of Riverhead, was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated after police said his vehicle was observing speeding on Middle Road near the Strawberry Fields fairgrounds.
On Aug. 28, a North Sea man, 62, told police that while working at a non-profit event at the Fifth St. beach in Greenport, he was walking through the park area of the beach when he was confronted by an angry group of men, one of them wielding a stick, who accused him of talking to their children and offering them candy. The man denied the accusation, but the men remained “confrontational.” At some point a woman joined the men before they disbursed, saying “stay away from our kids.” When police interviewed the man with the stick, he told them he had been setting up for a family party and that the stick was for a pinata. He said one of children in his group told the parents that a man who looked like the North Sea man had approached the kids and offered them candy.
On Aug. 29, an anonymous caller contacted police to report being “offended” by what police said was a “very small group” of protesters on public property on Main Rd. in Southold, who were not blocking traffic.
On Aug. 29, police responded to a report of a brush fire in a vacant lot on North Sea Dr. in Orient. By the time police and Orient firefighters arrived, a fire “about the size of a large garbage can” had been extinguished, apparently by the person who reported. Prior to the arrival of authorities, a “12 or 13-year-old girl on turquoise bike” had been spotted trying to stamp out the fire, then fleeing eastbound on North Sea Dr. Police canvassed the area for the little cyclist without success.
On Aug. 29, a Greenport man reported that a lithium-ion battery had exploded inside his Main Road residence. Greenport firefighters arrived to find the fire extinguished, and vented the house before the allowing anyone back in.
On Aug. 29, police responded to a report of a man going through trash cans on Breakwater Rd. in Mattituck, and talking to himself. Police interviewed the 41-year-old man, with no known address, who told them he was “traveling through on foot from Virginia” and stopped in the area to dry off after a rainstorm.
In the early hours of Aug. 30, police received reports of dirt bikes traveling at high speed on Front St. in Greenport. A responding officer located one dirt bike and one moped traveling at a high rate of speed on Front St. but when he attempted to follow, they sped up further and got away. Neither of the fleeing bikes had valid registrations, police said. Later the same morning, police received reports of a gray Toyota Tacoma speeding down Love Lane in Mattituck.
On Aug. 30, Engell Leon-Garcia, 28, of Riverhead was arrested at the Riverhead Police Dept. on an outstanding Southold warrant.
On Aug. 30, Jesse Classens, 49, of Nantucket, was arrested for alleged driving while intoxicated after police said he struck a car near the ferry dock in Greenport. His car was impounded and transported to police headquarters.
On Aug. 31, Michael Green, 64, of Riverhead, was arrested in Orient for alleged driving while intoxicated.
On Aug. 31, a Washington D.C. woman, 25, got her foot stuck in a hole in the dock near Preston’s Marine Supply in Greenport. When police arrived, the woman had extricated her foot, but police contacted the village about the potential hazard.
