Post-Parade Montauk Crash Leads To DWI Charge

A two-vehicle crash in Montauk a few hours after the Friends of Erin St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 24 resulted in the arrest by the East Hampton Town police of a Westhampton Beach man on a misdemeanor drunken driving charge.

“I was coming from the skate park,” Kevin Sabo, 27, reportedly told the arresting officer. “I was here for the parade. I know I skipped the stop sign.” The stop sign was the one at Essex Street and Montauk Highway.

Sabo’s vehicle, a 2000 Ford Focus, which was headed south on Essex, broadsided a 2004 Toyota minivan headed east on Montauk Highway, according to the police. The collision was forceful enough to send both vehicles spinning, with the Focus ending up in the middle of the intersection, front end totaled, pointing west. The minivan slid to the side of the road, coming to a stop just yards from the gas pumps at the Montauk Fuels gas station on the northwest corner.

A passenger in the Ford was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for precautionary reasons, and was later released.

The arresting officer spoke with Sabo for some time before asking him to perform roadside sobriety tests. Sabo did not make it through the tests before saying to the officer, “Just arrest me,” according to the police.

At headquarters, a breath test to determine the level of alcohol in his system produced a .17 of one percent reading, well over the .08 that defines intoxication in New York, and just below the .18 mark that would have raised the charge to the aggravated driving while intoxicated level.

Besides the DWI, Sabo was also charged with driving an uninsured vehicle. He was held overnight, and released the next morning.

Less than an hour later, another parade visitor was charged with
misdemeanor DWI.

Miguel Martinez, 20, of Mastic Beach, was behind the wheel of a 2007 Hyundai when he was pulled over for allegedly swerving across lane lines, leading to a traffic stop and his arrest on South Emery Street.

Police said one of the documents Martinez presented was fake, adding a felony charge of possession of a forged instrument to his docket. He was released on $400 bail.

Town police also brought DWI charges this past week against an East Hampton man, Rolando Merchan, 49. Merchan was pulled over in a 2013 Chevrolet van after running the stop sign at Abraham’s Path and Town Lane early Friday morning. His breath test also produced a .17 reading, police said.

He was released on his own recognizance later that morning after being arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court.

t.e@indyeastend.com