Blotter: Police pursue Sterling Basin swimmer

Southold Town police reported responding to 52 incidents between May 18 and May 25, including the following.

• Police received several complaints about fishermen during the week. One group, who were properly licensed, was found at a pier near Mitchell Park in Greenport and advised that it is private property, where fishing is not permitted. Other incidents involved licensed fishermen setting up disallowed tents at Goldsmith’s Inlet in Peconic and fishermen reportedly shining their flashlights into a residence in a private area near McCabe’s Beach. All subjects cooperated and no charges resulted.
• Police, firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport May 24 after a man jumped into the water in Sterling Basin behind the hospital. Police said the man was actively swimming and did not appear distressed, and refused multiple commands to exit the water. Officers aboard Marine 2 were unable to retrieve him, as he kept swimming away, refusing assistance. He eventually agreed to board a Greenport Fire Department vessel, was safely taken ashore at the hospital dock and was then transported to the hospital for medical evaluation.
• Cutchogue, Mattituck and Southold firefighters responded May 23 to a report of a fire at the Southold Town transfer station, arriving to find equipment there fully involved. Two payloaders and a Freightliner truck were damaged. Southold Town detectives and a Suffolk County arson investigator also responded. The investigation is pending.
• Greenport firefighters evacuated a Greenport salon and upstairs apartment May 23 after smoke and a possible fire were reported inside the building. Police said firefighters found no active fire, but noted an “electric smell” on both floors and shut down the furnace in the building, cautioning occupants not to go back inside. The premises were ventilated and occupants were advised to have the furnace serviced before turning it back on.
• Police responded May 22 to a report of a prior incident involving two drivers at the intersection Old Sound Avenue and Route 48 in Mattituck. A woman reported that as she approached a steady green light there, she noted another car stopped at the light. The driver of that car exited his vehicle and reportedly “slammed his fist on the hood of her vehicle.” While exiting, he had apparently left the car in neutral and it rolled back into the woman’s car, causing minor damage. The man, located by phone, denied hitting her vehicle with his fist and said he had exited his car to see why the woman had been honking at him. He did not realize his vehicle had rolled into hers. No charges were filed.
• Police responded to a site on Main Road in Cutchogue May 22 after a woman reported that someone had marked a historical monument with pink spray paint. Officers noted additional pink markings on several nearby property-line markers and observed a worker in the area, possible a surveyor or state highway employee, and notified state authorities and the town historian, both of whom will investigate further.
• Police received an anonymous report May 23 of a young male wearing swimming goggles running in the area of Factory Avenue in Mattituck and yelling that he was being followed. Police located the youth, who turned out to be a Mattituck High School student participating in a “senior assassin game” with his friends. He was advised not to run in the roadway and to stay off private property.

Those who are named in police reports have not been convicted of any crime or violation. The charges against them may later be reduced or withdrawn, or they may be found innocent.