Crime & Safety
Secret Service, Police Arrest 2 Boaters Outside Romney Event
Cops say Wainscott men hit a police boat while trying to sail past a police line around "The Creeks," where Mitt Romney was attending a fundraiser for his campaign.
Two boaters in waters off The Creeks, billionaire Ronald Perelman's 57-acre East Hampton Village estate — where Mitt Romney was scheduled to be present for a campaign fundraiser — were arrested Sunday afternoon when they failed to comply with police orders, according to police.
One was arrested on the sailboat, while the second jumped off into Georgica Pond and swam to Perelman's property, where he was arrested by the Secret Service and , police said.
East Hampton Village Police Capt. Michael Tracey said that a police line was drawn across Georgica Pond, but two Wainscott men, David A. Fink and Simon V. Kinsella — after being warned not to pass — attempted to sail across the line. In the process, they hit a police boat, he said.
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When a police sergeant boarded the sailboat, Fink, 67, swam to the shore of The Creeks, where he began to curse and scream, police said
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Fink was charged with obstructing governmental administration in the second degree and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors, as well as disorderly conduct, a violation.
Tracey said Fink was not charged with trespassing because he did not cross the embankment on the border of Perelman's property.
Kinsella, 42, who remained on the sailboat, was charged with obstructing governmental administration in the second degree and disorderly conduct.
The pair were arrested around 2 p.m.
When Fink was brought to the police station for booking, he complained of cardiac problems and an ambulance was called, Tracey said. However, when the ambulance arrived, Fink refused treatment.
The fundraiser at The Creeks — where House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was scheduled to join Romney — is one of three Hamptons events Romney has planned Sunday. In addition to his event with Perelman, the CEO of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., Romney is also for his presidential campaign at the Southampton Village estates of Cliff Sobel, an ambassador to Brazil under George W. Bush, and David Koch, a billionaire industrialist who supports conservative, libertarian and anti-Barack Obama causes.
Liberal and progressive groups began convening Sunday at 3 p.m. on Southampton Village's Meadow Lane . The Southampton Village police chief met with the Secret Service on Friday in anticipation of the fundraisers.
