Former Suffolk County Mechanic Admits Bolting From Patchogue Car Crash: DA

PATCHOGUE, NY — A mechanic formerly employed by the Suffolk Sheriff's office pleaded guilty to a count of felony leaving the scene of an incident with personal injury without reporting and a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct on Wednesday, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney's office said.

The plea stems from a December incident in which Brian Sloan, 57, of Patchogue, was driving a county Ford F-250 pickup truck on Patchogue-Yaphank Road in Patchogue when he drove through a red traffic light, and crashed into a sedan that had been making a lawful left-hand turn, Tierney's office said.

The sedan was totaled, and its driver was taken by ambulance to Long Island Community Hospital in East Patchogue for treatment, according to Tierney's office.

Sloan bolted from the scene without stopping or exchanging documentation, but an off-duty New York Police Department officer who saw the crash followed him from the scene and recorded the vehicle's license plate number, Tierney's office said.

Sloan, who worked at the sheriff's garage in Riverhead, falsely reported that he had been involved in a one-car crash — completing, signing, and submitting two separate documents indicating he traveled over an icy roadway, which resulted in his collision with a guardrail at a different location in Patchogue, around two miles from the actual crash site, according to Tierney's office.

He was indicted on March 29 and retired from the Sheriff’s office on April 24.

Tierney said Sloan "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.”

“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," he said.

Tierney thanked the sheriff’s office for its "cooperation and professionalism in this investigation.”

Sloan is due back in court for sentencing on Aug. 9.

Defense attorney John Loturco of Huntington said that it is likely that Sloan will be sentenced to 840 hours of community service, which must be completed over his five-year probationary period, or serve six months in jail.

His client accepted responsibility and agreed "to a reasonable plea disposition negotiated between the parties," Loturco said, adding that the consequences of the plea are "severe" in that Sloan, who had 18 years on the job with the county, will now not receive "a meaningful pension."