Southampton Police Blotter: Medford man gets punched, throws brick

A Medford man was arrested last Tuesday for throwing a brick through the window of a house where he’d been involved in an altercation several hours earlier, according to Southampton Town Police.

Joseph Panettiere, 22, of Parker Lane in Medford went to the Longneck Boulevard home of his former girlfriend and threw a large brick through a plate glass living room window about 4 a.m., narrowly missing two people who were sleeping under the window, according to police.

Mr. Panettiere was arrested 90 minutes later near Old Quogue Road in Riverside, police said. He was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal mischief.

Mr. Panettiere himself had filed a harassment report at 10 p.m. the night before, saying he had visited the same house and was in a verbal dispute with an unknown male that escalated into a physical altercation, during which Mr. Panettiere was struck in the face several times, sustaining minor injuries, police said. Mr. Panettiere was uncooperative and evasive, refused medical treatment and was unable to provide further information on the man who had punched him, police said. An officer then escorted him to a bus stop at 30 Flanders Road in Riverside, where his mother picked him up.

He returned hours later with the brick, police said.

• A Riverhead man accused of stalking followed his girlfriend to the state troopers’ barracks early last Monday, where he was promptly arrested, according to Southampton Town Police, who then charged him with drunken driving as well.

Damon Strong, 32, of JT Boulevard in Riverhead had been arrested for a domestic incident involving his girlfriend, whom he was stalking throughout the day, town police said. Mr. Strong had followed her to the state police barracks on Riverleigh Drive at about 3 a.m., where he was taken into custody and charged with fourth-degree stalking, police said.

Afterward, town police found that Mr. Strong was intoxicated and that he was driving while his license had been revoked, officials said. He was additionally charged with driving while intoxicated, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation and circumventing an interlock device, according to police.

• A Flanders couple was arrested following an investigation into a bruise on their baby’s face, town police said.

Tina Reyes, 41, and Ramon Reyes, 45, of Priscilla Avenue in Flanders were each charged with endangering the welfare of a child last Wednesday afternoon at their home, officials said. The two had removed their 3-month-old child from Peconic Bay Medical Center before completion of treatment for a bruise to the child’s face, according to police.

The hospital physician had not completed an examination to determine the extent or cause of the baby’s injuries and attempts to call the family and have the child brought back were unsuccessful, police said.

The Suffolk County Child Protective Service began an investigation of the case and Mr. and Ms. Reyes were arrested at the conclusion of that investigation, police said. Details on how the baby came to get injured were not available.

• Suffolk County Community College’s Eastern Campus was briefly locked down Friday morning after police received a call about a man with a gun in the area, officials said.

State police, Southampton Town police and Suffolk County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report about 9 a.m. of a man spotted on the shoulder of County Road 51 armed with a shotgun, said state police Sgt. Paul Slevinski.

The college was locked down for about 10 minutes while police investigated, officials said, but neither police officers nor campus security found any signs of the reported man.

• A Hampton Bays man was pulled over for running a stop sign at the corner of Cypress Avenue and Flanders Road in Flanders about 7:30 p.m. last Monday. After he was stopped, an officer found him to be in possession of cocaine and marijuana and arrested him, according to police.

Michael Opulente, 22, of Waverly Road in Hampton Bays was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of marijuana and failure to stop at a stop sign on Flanders Road and Firehouse Lane in Flanders, police said.

• A Calverton man was stopped for failing to signal a lane change and was discovered to be in possession of more than 25 grams of marijuana, according to police.

Carl Obrig, 59, of South River Road in Calverton was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, moving from a lane unsafely and improper use of signals, after he had been stopped about midnight Friday on Flanders Road and Peconic Trail in Flanders, police said.

• A Flanders man who was involved in a two-car collision at the Riverside traffic circle last Monday night was driving with a license that had been revoked because of a prior DWI conviction, police said.
Rene Lopez-Enriquez, 35, of Cypress Avenue in Flanders was charged with second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, police said. The DWI arrest was from Feb. 8, 2010, according to police, who said no one was injured in the accident last Monday.

• A set of gold earrings valued at $200, $45 in cash, a set of DVD headphones and a vehicle title were reported stolen from an unlocked car parked on Oak Avenue in Flanders Saturday morning.

• A digital camera valued at $100 and three dollars’ worth of loose change were reported stolen from two cars parked at a home on Flanders Boulevard in Flanders Saturday. A scanner in one of the vehicles was also damaged during the theft, police said.

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.