NYPD officer Michael Caligiuri, of Long Beach, another cop, indicted in alleged cover-up in DWI crash of off-duty officer, Manhattan DA says

Two NYPD officers, including a Long Islander, have been indicted on charges they covered up a drunken driving crash involving an off-duty cop, Manhattan prosecutors said Friday.

Michael Caligiuri, 31, of Long Beach and Ryan McLoughlin, 30, of Suffern, Rockland County, were each charged with first-degree tampering with public records, first-degree falsifying business records, tampering with physical evidence and two counts of official misconduct, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

"The defendants allegedly went to great lengths to protect a fellow officer from accountability," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin K. Bragg in a statement. "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."

Defense attorneys for the officers could not be reached for comment. An NYPD spokesperson said in an email that the officers have been suspended without pay and "the NYPD initiated this investigation and then referred the case to the Manhattan DA’s office." 

Prosecutors said that a bystander called 911 on Oct. 16, 2024, at about 10:18 p.m. reporting a car crash involving an intoxicated driver at 8th Avenue and West 26th Street. Caligiuri and McLoughlin responded to the scene.

Off-duty NYPD officer Eli Garcia, was identified as the driver of a 2020 Infinity SUV and a witness told police that he was intoxicated and had flashed a police badge and identified himself as a police officer, prosecutors said. An NYPD-issued parking placard was on his vehicle's dashboard, prosecutors said.

Garcia, who later pleaded guilty to drunken driving, "allegedly struggled to provide his license and was unable to locate the vehicle registration, but did show Caligiuri an NYPD identification card," prosecutors said.

Caligiuri failed to question Garcia about his alcohol consumption and "positioned his body-worn camera so that it would not fully capture his interaction with Garcia," prosecutors said.

The responding officers then began texting each other about the incident in an alleged attempt to elude their body cameras, prosecutors said.

"Idk what to do." McLoughlin texted Caligiuri, using an abbreviation for "I don't know."

Caligiuri responded: "it[’]s bad man."

Then Caligiuri, according to prosecutors, removed his body camera and slid it into McLoughlin's right hand. McLoughlin extended his arm "so that it would appear Caligiuri was standing beside him."

Caligiuri walked away and called a supervisor, prosecutors said, before retrieving his body camera.

Garcia then drove away from the scene and neither defendant tried to stop him, prosecutors said. They also failed to report over the police radio that Garcia has fled.

An NYPD duty captain went to Garcia’s apartment a few hours later at about 1:15 a.m. and saw Garcia’s vehicle parked illegally in a crosswalk, prosecutors said. The duty captain spoke to Garcia and determined he was intoxicated and unfit for duty. He was arrested and charged.

Garcia pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2024 with driving while ability impaired and was sentenced to a conditional discharge, an Impaired Driver Program, a 90-day license suspension, and more than $1,500 in fines and restitution. He resigned from the NYPD.

Patrick Hendry, president of the NYPD's Police Benevolent Association, said Friday after the officers were arraigned that their prosecution was "another overreach by Alvin Bragg."

"These are two hardworking New York City police officers and their reputations are being tarnished by this DA's office because of assumptions, because [of] what they were thinking, not what they actually did," said Hendry.

Hendry noted that Garcia was prosecuted more than a year ago. "These police officers did their job," he said.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.