LI CRIME BRIEFS

GILGO BEACH/Search continues for missing surfer

The search for a surfer from Old Field who disappeared in the waters off Gilgo State Park continued yesterday, police said.

"We've got patrols constantly up and down the beach, but still nothing," said a State Park Police detective who declined to be named.

The surfer, Zachary Gottfried, 31, disappeared Thursday night in 10-foot surf, said Capt. Bruce Marx of the Park Police.

Teams from the park police, the Coast Guard, Long Beach Police Department, and Nassau and Suffolk police have been involved in the 3-day-old search.

On Friday, a Babylon Bay constable recovered a paddle belonging to Gottfried. His surfboard was found Thursday.

In the hours before he disappeared, Gottfried and another man crossed the Great South Bay by boat from Amityville, docked along Ocean Parkway and walked across the parkway to enter the water on the south shore of Fire Island, Marx said. Both men were in waters where the surf was 5 to 10 feet, and the National Weather Service had issued a "high surf advisory" for the area.

Gottfried was lost in water about a quarter-mile east of the sand-road entrance to Gilgo State Park, Marx said.

T.R. Fatscher, owner of a boat repair shop near Island Riders, a Copiague kiteboard, surf and water sports store, said Gottfried owns Island Riders and was an avid surfer.

Fatscher said he was shocked to learn Gottfried was the missing surfer, adding that he would travel anywhere to surf.

"He travels to surf and kiteboard," he said. "That's his life."

-- Nicholas Spangler and Robert Brodsky

SAYVILLE/Motorcyclist dies on Montauk Hwy.

A Sayville man died after crashing his motorcycle Saturday night, Suffolk police said yesterday morning.

Police said Alfred Zollo, 64, lost control of his Harley-Davidson on Montauk Highway in Sayville about 10:53 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police ask witnesses to call 631-854-8552 or Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS. -- Nicholas Spangler

Oyster Bay

Driver dies after car hits utility pole

A 22-year-old Maryland man died yesterday morning after his car struck a utility pole in Oyster Bay Cove, police said.

Kenneth Polk, of Berlin, Md., was driving east on Northern Boulevard at Glendale Drive when he veered off the roadway and struck a utility pole about 4:16 a.m., police said. The car, a 2005 Volvo, caught fire and, police said, Polk died of his injuries at the scene. Police said there appears to be no criminality involved.

-- Tania Lopez

FIRE ISLAND/Man charged in rape of tourist

Suffolk police said yesterday they have charged a Fire Island man with raping a woman last week on the beach.

Police say that Edgar Peralta, 24, of Cherry Grove and Corona, Queens, used a silver handgun in the Cherry Grove assault of a tourist about 5:20 a.m. Sept. 4.

Peralta, who police say worked in the area, was arrested at 8:20 p.m. Saturday after an investigation by Fifth Squad detectives. He was being held for arraignment in First District Court, police said.

-- Nicholas Spangler

HEMPSTEAD/Cops: Teens in drunken driver's car

A Hempstead man was arrested on drunken driving charges after he pulled onto a sidewalk with three teenage passengers in the backseat, Nassau police said.

Police said they arrested Jorge Reyes, 33, at 3:10 a.m. yesterday after he drove off Clinton Street and across the sidewalk.

Reyes was attempting to take the teens home at the time, police said. They were released to their parents.

He was charged with 3 counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated under Leandra's Law, unlicensed operation and driving a motor vehicle across a sidewalk.

-- Nicholas Spangler

COMMACK/Woman injured in deck collapse

A woman in Commack suffered back injuries and was taken to a hospital after a wooden deck collapsed underneath her yesterday afternoon, rescuers confirmed.

Members of the Commack Fire Department and the Commack Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to a report of a deck collapse on Wicks Path at 2:23 p.m. The 20-by-30-foot deck had detached from the rear of the house, and an unidentified woman who was on the deck was taken to St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown for treatment.

-- TANIA LOPEZ