Suffolk sheriff's mechanic charged with leaving scene of crash, falsifying police report, DA says

A Suffolk County sheriff’s civilian mechanic has been charged with leaving the scene of a collision that injured another driver and falsifying a police report about the crash, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office announced the indictment after sheriff’s employee Brian Sloan, 57, surrendered to the DA's office and pleaded not guilty to three felony charges during an arraignment in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

Prosecutors said Sloan was driving a department-issued Ford F-250 pickup truck Dec. 23 on Patchogue Yaphank Road in Patchogue when he ran a red light and crashed into a sedan turning left. Sloan sped away from the crash that injured the other driver and totaled the car, prosecutors said.

The driver was taken to Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue for medical treatment. Prosecutors said an off-duty NYPD officer followed the pickup after the crash and reported his license plate number.

Afterward, authorities said Sloan filed a report to the sheriff’s department that he was on icy roads when he hit a guardrail, about two miles away from the actual crash site in Patchogue.

“This defendant is alleged to have fled the scene of a motor vehicle crash that injured another driver, and then compounded that conduct by allegedly filing false documents with the Sheriff’s Office in an effort to conceal what he had done,” Tierney said in a statement.

Sloan was charged with felony leaving the scene of an incident with personal injury without reporting, two counts of felony falsifying business records, two counts of offering a false instrument for filing and two counts of official misconduct.

Sloan was released on his own recognizance because the charges are not bail eligible, his attorney, John LoTurco said.

“Brian Sloan has been a dedicated and loyal civilian employee of the Suffolk Sheriff’s Office for 20 years. Since Brian retained our law firm, he has cooperated with the district attorney’s office, including voluntarily surrendering today for his arraignment,” LoTurco said. “We now look forward to scrutinizing the district attorney’s allegations and discovery in order for us to consider all options and defenses.”

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.