The number of drunken driving cases filed in the Island’s district court has dropped significantly over the past few years, even outpacing a statewide downward trend.

According to figures obtained from the state Office of the Commissioner of Probation, drunken driving arraignments in Edgartown district court last year fell nearly 24 per cent — to 126 arraignments — from the previous year, and 38 per cent since 2008.

A 34-year-old man was arraigned this week on charges he telephoned menacing threats from a psychiatric hospital to a Vineyard Haven selectman’s home.

Bernard M. Wojnowski of Vineyard Haven was accused of leaving threatening messages on the telephone machine of Geoghan Coogan, 35, on June 26.

Mr. Wojnowski is charged with making a threat to commit a crime, murder, and making a threat to commit a crime, assault and battery. Both charges carry up to a six-month jail term.

Complaints against the Tisbury police department and Sgt. Timothy Stobie alleging discrimination based on sexual harassment have been found to have probable cause, after the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination investigated a broad complaint by a female officer, Kelly Kershaw.

Acquitted on Assault

A wheelchair-bound Vineyard Haven man was acquitted this week of a charge he used a baseball bat to assault a man he accused of molesting a three-year-old girl.

After a bench trial in Edgartown district court on Monday, Francis C. Hebert, 57, owner of Mac PC Sales and Service, was found not guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon stemming from a Feb. 22 arrest.

Two pending cases in Edgartown district court this week were placed on the docket for early November, one involving an Aquinnah man accused in a stabbing where the victim later died, the other involving a prominent Edgartown attorney who faces criminal charges of embezzlement.

Tisbury police are seeking any information about a man alleged to have sexually assaulted a juvenile female acquaintance last Sunday.

Known to the victim as Tiago Souza, the man is described as a 25-year-old Brazilian male, 5’10,” weighing about 180 pounds with a thin, muscular build. He is known to have brown hair but police believe he may have shaved his head recently. Mr. Souza also may have an earring in his left ear and a gap between his two front teeth.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police department at 508-693-4240.