Sini: Suffolk cop failed to respond to emergency calls

A Suffolk County police officer accused of failing to respond to six calls for police assistance and falsifying reports last year was arrested Wednesday, Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said Wednesday.

Two of the calls Matthew Drury, 34, failed to respond to were emergencies involving senior citizens, prosecutors said. He has been charged with six counts of first-degree falsifying business records, six counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and six counts of official misconduct.

Drury, a Suffolk police officer since 2016, was assigned to the Fourth Precinct. He was arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip and released on his own recognizance. Drury was suspended without pay, according to police.

"The vast majority of our police officers are hardworking and dedicated to upholding their oath to serve the people of Suffolk County every day," said acting Suffolk Police Commissioner Stuart Cameron. "When officers violate this trust, they must be held accountable for their actions. When their actions are criminal, our department works closely with the district attorney’s office to ensure that justice is served."

Drury’s attorney, Anthony La Pinta of Hauppauge, said the officer "lived a life devoted to public service" and served in the Marine Corps for nine years before he joined the NYPD and later Suffolk police.

"We will take careful steps to investigate these allegations because they are totally inconsistent with officer Drury’s honorable history of service as a police officer for over eleven years," La Pinta said.

Drury failed to respond to six calls for assistance between April 2020 and October 2020, prosecutors said in court papers, including a call to assist an unresponsive 90-year-old woman on April 26 and a call to aid a 75-year-old man complaining of chest pains on May 1. Drury filled out reports that indicated he did respond to the calls, according to court papers, to avoid disciplinary action.

"A man such as officer Drury, who has spent his life protecting the rights of others and ensuring due process, understandably deserves the same himself," Suffolk Police Benevolent Association president Noel DiGerolamo said.

The case was originally handled by the Suffolk police Internal Affairs Bureau, which referred it to Sini's office for criminal investigation.

If convicted of the top count, Drury faces a maximum sentence of one and one-third to four years in prison.