Ex-mechanic for Suffolk Sheriff's Office pleads guilty to leaving scene of crash, falsifying police report, DA says

A former civilian mechanic for the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office has pleaded guilty to felony leaving the scene of an incident with personal injury for a December crash that totaled another car and injured its driver, the Suffolk District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.

Authorities said Brian Sloan, 57, of Patchogue, was driving a Ford F-250 pickup truck owned by the Sheriff's Office when he was involved in the crash on Patchogue Yaphank Road in Patchogue on Dec. 23, driving "through a red traffic light, crashing into a sedan" — which was making a lawful left turn. Sloan then fled the scene "without stopping or exchanging documentation" and then falsely reported he'd been involved in a single-vehicle crash, the district attorney's office said.

But, authorities said, an off-duty NYPD officer witnessed the crash — and followed the F-250 from the scene, recording its license plate number and notifying police.

The district attorney's office said Sloan claimed the pickup truck was traveling over an icy roadway, colliding with a guardrail in an incident two miles from the actual crash location.

Sloan was indicted on March 29 and retired from the Sheriff's Office on April 24.

On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Hon. Steven A. Pilewski to charges of leaving the scene of an incident with personal injury without reporting and official misconduct. He is scheduled to appear for sentencing on Aug. 9.

"This defendant admitted to fleeing the scene of a motor vehicle crash that injured another driver, which was compounded by his filing of false documents with the Sheriff's Office in an effort to conceal what he had done," Suffolk District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement. He added: "Keeping our county's roadways safe is a priority for my office, and we will continue to hold accountable those who endanger the lives of other motorists."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”