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Miguel Juan-Pedro, 39, of East Hampton was charged with misdemeanor DWI by Sag Harbor Village Police on Friday night. Juan-Pedro was driving a 2006 Nissan Frontier north on Division Street in the village near Love Lane, police said, when he swerved across the white shoulder line, almost striking the curb before regaining control, leading to a traffic stop. According to police, when the officer approached the Nissan, Juan-Pedro had slid over into the passenger seat. There was no one else in the car, police said. The officer reported seeing open containers of beer in the vehicle, and that Juan-Pedro appeared intoxicated. Juan-Pedro was asked to perform roadside sobriety tests, the arrest report states, which he failed. Juan-Pedro was placed under arrest and taken to police headquarters not far from where he was pulled over. Once at headquarters, Juan-Pedro repeatedly refused to take a breath test, police said, stating that he had been sitting in the passenger seat when the officer approached the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. During his video arraignment on Saturday morning in front of Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace, the prosecution asked that Juan-Pedro’s release from custody be conditioned on supervision by the probation department, pointing out that Juan-Pedro was arrested in 2023 on the same misdemeanor DWI charge, which was then plea-bargained down to a simple violation of driving with ability impaired by alcohol. Brian DeSesa, representing Juan-Pedro for the arraignment as part of Suffolk County’s weekend arraignment program, countered that the defendant had never had a failure to appear at a court date, and was an area resident. Irace said his main consideration under the law was whether the defendant would return to court. Irace asked Juan-Pedro directly whether he would give his word that he would return, and the defendant promised he would. Juan-Pedro was released unconditionally with the understanding that when he returns to court on February 7, he will have retained an attorney by then. Irace also suspended Juan-Pedro’s driving privileges in New York State for the next year, pending a hearing to be conducted by the Department of Motor Vehicles, because of the reported refusal to take the breath test.
