Story by Ethan
On February 20th, 2026, the arrest of Michael Caligiuri, age 31, and Ryan McLoughlin, age 30, was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.. Michael Caligiuri and Ryan McLoughlin was charged with first-degree Tampering with Public Records, first-degree Falsifying Business Records, Tampering with Physical Evidence as a felony, and two counts of Official Misconduct as a misdemeanor. The arrest and charges against Michael Caligiuri and Ryan McLoughlin were a result of an investigation handled by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the NYPD.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, at approximately 10:18 p.m. on October 16th, 2024, a car crash was reported in the area of West 26th Street and 8th Avenue by a nearby civilian. Both Michael Caligiuri and Ryan McLoughlin responded to the scene and located both the civilian who called 911 and the driver involved in the crash. The civilian told the defendants that the driver seemed to be intoxicated, the car brandished an NYPD-issued parking placard, and that he allegedly showed a police badge while claiming to be a NYPD officer. When Michael Caligiuri and Ryan McLoughlin talked to the driver, identified to be Eli Garcia, inside of his 2020 Infiniti SUV, he struggled to provide his license and failed to hand over the vehicle’s registration. However, Eli Garcia showed the defendants a valid NYPD identification card. Allegedly Michael Caligiuri positioned his bodycam to not properly capture the driver, nor did he ever ask about his potentially intoxicated state or provide any tests to determine his potential state of drunkenness. Both defendants began to communicate with one another through text messaging on their personal phones out of sight from their body cameras. Allegedly Ryan McLoughlin texted Michael Caligiuri, “Idk what to do” with Michael Caligiuri responding with, “it’s bad man” before Ryan McLoughlin suggested “I’ll hold your camera?”. Allegedly Michael Caligiuiri removed his body worn camera and handed it to Ryan McLoughlin while positioning it around chest level to make it seem like both defendants are standing side by side with each other. Michael Caligiuri walked away and called a supervising Lieutenant before returning and collecting his camera again, however when asked through text message by Ryan McLoughlin “what he say,” he didn’t respond. Eli Garcia proceeded to drive away from the scene before receiving permission to do so, however he left behind his driver’s license with the defendants. Allegedly neither defendant attempted to make any attempts to flag down or stop Eli Garcia’s vehicle, nor did they call it in with their radios.
At approximately 1:15 a.m. an NYPD Duty Captain responded to Eli Garcia’s residential apartment and found him intoxicated and unfit for duty. The responding captain also observed Eli Garcia’s car illegally parked in a crosswalk, leading to his arrest and the charges against him. Eli Garcia would resign from the NYPD after pleading guilty of Driving While Ability Impaired, in addition to him being sentenced to a 90-day license suspension, an Impaired Driver Program, and over $1,500 in fines and restitution.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Michael Caligiuri and Ryan McLoughlin are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
