Southampton Town police arrest Hampton Bays man in DWI stop
A Hampton Bays erratic-driving call ended with Ricky Urbano’s DWI arrest after police spotted his car on Flanders Road near Montauk Highway.
Southampton Town police arrested Ricky Urbano, 30, of Hampton Bays after a late-night call about an erratic driver led officers to his vehicle on Flanders Road near Montauk Highway, where police said they found signs of alcohol impairment.
Police said they received the complaint around 11:30 p.m. Monday and canvassed the area before spotting the car. After stopping the vehicle for multiple traffic violations, officers identified the driver as Urbano and charged him with driving while intoxicated. Police said he was allegedly intoxicated by alcohol.
The arrest is a reminder that a citizen call can be the first step in getting a dangerous driver off the road before a crash happens. In Hampton Bays and along the eastern Suffolk travel corridors, where summer traffic can stack up quickly on Montauk Highway and nearby roads, reports of swerving, speeding or other erratic behavior can give police the chance to intervene in real time. In this case, there were no reported injuries or property damage, which suggests officers stopped the situation before it escalated into a collision.
Southampton Town Police have handled similar cases repeatedly in and around Hampton Bays and East Quogue. On May 24, 2025, police said they got a call about a reckless erratic driver westbound on Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays and later located the vehicle on Paynes Lane in East Quogue, where they arrested Paulino Matamoros, 42, of Southampton, on a DWI charge. On July 6, 2025, police arrested Diego Franco, 25, of Flanders, after a stop at Flanders Road and Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays. Police public information posts also show DWI-related stops in the same area in 2026, including a March 24 stop on Flanders Road involving lane violations and an April 24 stop on Montauk Highway near Springville Road involving no functional brake lights.
The pattern fits a wider enforcement push across Long Island. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee have promoted Drive Safe Long Island, a campaign aimed at deterring impaired driving, reducing speeding and improving pedestrian safety through outreach and targeted enforcement. In Suffolk County, the message from police is clear: erratic-driving complaints are not minor calls. They are warnings that can keep a bad drive from becoming a deadly one.
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