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At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, Scarsdale police officers were dispatched to the Fox Meadow Tennis Club on Wayside Lane for a noise complaint.
According to police, while at the club, Drake Road resident Benjamin Reuter, 40, drove up to the officers’ vehicle and attempted to speak to them, though “it was clear that Reuter had been drinking alcoholic beverages due to his glassy and bloodshot eyes and incoherent and slurred speech.” Officers subsequently asked Reuter to park his car to investigate, because they were on private property.
The responding officers reported that Reuter “had poor hand-eye coordination, his movements were lethargic and there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.” Police told Reuter he would not be able to drive home and required a cab or a ride from someone he knew. According to the police report, Reuter became “belligerent” during the encounter.
At approximately 1 a.m., Reuter was picked up by a driver in a black Jeep and was cautioned by police not to drive his vehicle tonight. Reuter’s vehicle was secured at Fox Meadow Tennis Club and the responding officers resumed their patrol.
While back on their regular patrol of schools, parks, houses of worship, the library and Village Hall, the same officers observed Reuter’s vehicle fail to come to a stop while exiting the club and entering Wayside Lane, prompting a traffic stop near the intersection of Paddington Road.
Shortly after the stop began, Reuter - who police identified from their previous incident - stepped out of the vehicle, and ignored repeated orders to get back in the car. According to police, instead, he began to go through his wallet, looking for his identification, swaying back and forth in the process and dropping several cards. Reuter reportedly struggled to locate and pick up the dropped cards and was unsteady on his feet in the process.
Officers performed a series of Standardized Field Sobriety Tests that Reuter failed. He then failed to take an also-sensor test at the scene and was arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge. A subsequent investigation would reveal a small bottle of whiskey in his vehicle.
Reuter refused to submit to a Datamaster DMT test and refused to be fingerprinted and photographed. He also refused to make a phone call and refused to answer any question from he suicide screening. He was arraigned in front of Judge Jack Alemany and released on $100 bail. He is due back in Scarsdale Village Court on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
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