Suffolk police officer arrested for second time in less than four months, officials say

A Suffolk County police officer was arrested Friday in what was his second arrest in less than four months and charged with criminal contempt and forcible touching, officials said.

An NYPD spokesman said Denis O'Connor, a 12-year department veteran stationed in the Fourth Precinct, allegedly violated an order of protection and grabbed a 38-year-old woman inappropriately during an incident that took place on March 30 in Manhattan. 

O'Connor, 36, was also arrested by the Southampton Town Police Department on Dec. 21 after officers responded to a report of a domestic dispute at a home in Flanders. Court records say O'Connor struck a woman in the face with his hand and cracked a bathroom door by banging his body against it. 

O'Connor's attorney, Anthony La Pinta of Hauppauge, said the arrests are the result of a "concerted and calculated effort" to damage the police officer's reputation. 

“These charges, like the others, are totally fabricated and without merit,” La Pinta said, without elaborating.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said O’Connor was suspended without pay after the Dec. 21 arrest by the Southampton police but declined to say how long that suspension lasted. O'Connor was also suspended without pay following Friday's arrest by the NYPD. 

O'Connor was charged by Suffolk County prosecutors with second-degree harassment. and fourth-degree criminal mischief as a result of the Dec. 20  incident. He was also charged with endangering the welfafe of a child because a 9-year-old boy was in the Flanders home when the incident allegedly took place. 

That case is still pending, according to a spokeswoman for Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini.