NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Two NYPD officers were arraigned on Friday for allegedly covering up a drunk driving crash in October 2024 that involved another cop, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Michael Caligiuri, 31, and Ryan McLoughlin, 30, are charged with one count each of tampering with public records and tampering with physical evidence, one count of falsifying business records and two counts of official misconduct.
"The defendants allegedly went to great lengths to protect a fellow officer from accountability,” DA Alvin Bragg said. “This type of conduct significantly harms the public trust in law enforcement. Everyone must be treated the same under the law, regardless of their position or background.”
A bystander called 911 to report the crash at West 26th Street and Eighth Avenue at about 10:18 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2024. The driver, officer Eli Garcia, struggled to provide his license or vehicle registration, but did show responding officer Caligiuri an NYPD identification card, prosecutors said.
According to the investigation, Caligiuri never questioned Garcia about his intoxicated state; repositioned and later removed his body camera; and communicated with McLoughlin via text on their personal phones, sending messages like "it[']s bad man." The pair allegedly made no attempt besides waving their flashlights to stop Garcia when he drove off without permission.
Hours later, at about 1:15 a.m., an NYPD Duty Captain went to Garcia's apartment and found him illegally parked in a crosswalk, intoxicated and unfit for duty. He was arrested and charged with driving while ability impaired, to which he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to a conditional discharge, an Impaired Driver Program, a 90-day license suspension, more than $1,500 in fines and restitution and soon resigned from the NYPD.
PBA President Patrick Hendry said outside court on Friday that the prosecution of Caligiuri and McLoughlin is an overreach from Bragg, whose office is "more concerned about arresting police officers than prosecuting criminals."
"Their reputations are being tarnished by this DA's office because of assumptions, because of what they were thinking, not what they actually did," Hendry said. "This case was resolved a year ago, and the person that was involved was arrested, was prosecuted. These police officers did their job, we should not be here."