Blotter: Driver hits three cars after happy hour

Southold Town police responded to several weather-related incidents during the week from Sept. 21 to Sept. 28, including two drifting boats torn from their moorings by the weekend’s nor’easter and a floating dock on the loose. All were safely secured without causing or sustaining damage. The following were among other reported incidents.

• On Sept. 21, materials were reported stolen from a construction site at Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church in Mattituck. A manager called police to report he’d noticed that about five boxes of door hardware, estimated to be worth approximately $20,000, had gone missing from the church basement in the last week. He stated that the building is secured daily and that contractors and subcontractors work at the site only until about 4:30 p.m. Officers observed no signs of forced entry and no cameras were in place. The neighboring library, which has cameras that partially show the church parking lot, agree to release footage with a subpoena. A larceny affidavit was signed and detectives were notified.

• A Mattituck woman called police Sept. 22 to report the possible theft of her 85-year-old mother’s wedding ring. She told officers her mother was wearing the ring when she entered the hospital on Sept. 16, and had been treated at both Stony Brook ELIH and Stony Brook University. But when she returned home to Peconic Landing, she didn’t have her ring. Neither facility acknowledged having the property. Detectives were notified and investigation is to continue.

• A Mattituck man called police Sept. 22 to document that an unknown subject stole his bank debit card while he was playing golf at Indian Island in Riverhead the previous day. He said the card was subsequently used four times at FMJ Laundromat in Holbrook for total charges of $171.80.

• A Mattituck resident called police about 9:20 p.m. Sept. 22 because his wife had left in their vehicle to get food and hadn’t returned after several hours, noting that she suffers from insomnia and seizures. He did not know her destination and she wasn’t answering her cellphone. Responding officers canvassed several locations without success. A flock search revealed that the vehicle had been traveling west on Route 25 near Laurel Lane about 6 p.m. An officer also searched the Riverhead area on his way through but before Riverhead police were involved, the man’s wife called to say she was on her way home. Southold officers met her at their house. She stated she was fine and needed no medical attention and had fallen asleep in the Lenny’s Pizza parking lot in Jamesport.

• Town Trustees requested police presence at a Mattituck address Sept. 23 regarding a catwalk and dock installed on the property without permits. Responding officers contacted the homeowner, who was not on the premises, by telephone. He told them he did not want them entering the property without an escort. Officers were able to obtain a view of the location from a neighboring property and confirm the existence of a fully constructed dock and catwalk. A summons was issued and the homeowner was advised to contact Town Trustees to rectify the situation.

• Police received a report Sept. 24 about 9:45 p.m. that a vehicle driving on Fourth Street in Greenport had struck multiple vehicles and then left the area. A witness told responding officers he had seen the car hit two others, as well as a police vehicle, before driving off to the end of Fifth Street. Police located the vehicle and interviewed the driver, Christine McCabe of Greenport, 85, who was observed to have glassy, bloodshot eyes; be unsteady on her feet; and have the odor of alcohol on her breath. Officers said she told them, in sum and substance: “I drank two glasses of wine at happy hour … before driving back to my boyfriend’s place,” and that she believed she had collided with a vehicle exiting an unknown driveway before leaving the scene. After performing poorly on standard field tests, Ms. McCabe was placed under arrest and taken to Stony Brook ELIH for medical evaluation and treatment.

• A Southold man called police Sept. 26 to report a vehicle blocking the roadway at Ackerly Pond Lane and North Road in Southold. Responding officers located an unoccupied vehicle in the road, making it impassable, and no people in the area. Police identified and spoke with the owner, a 27-year-old Greenport resident, who told them the car had broken down and AAA did not respond to assist him with towing. A local service was called to tow the vehicle to a Greenport service station.

• A Mattituck man called police Sept. 27 to report seeing a fire in his garage on his security cameras. Upon arrival, the Mattituck Fire Department found no fire or hazards. When advised of this by phone, the man said the garage’s exterior lighting give the “illusion of a possible fire.”

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.