nws Scott Forster

Scott Forster of Staten Island has been demoted from captain to lieutenant by the NYPD.

(Staten Island Advance Photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Scott Forster, who was accused of going home to Staten Island during the emergency response after two police officers were shot, has been demoted by the NYPD.

Forster of Eltingville, who previously was a captain, now is a lieutenant, a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Information confirmed. Information about Forster's current assignment was not immediately available.

The officers, William Reddin and Andrew Yurkiw, were injured at about 3:20 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, during a car chase and shootout with a suspect in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant section.

The Curtis High School graduate was put on modified duty and reassigned to the 44th Precinct in the Bronx during an internal NYPD investigation that was launched after Forster allegedly went home at the end of his shift in Brooklyn instead of staying on the job to assist with the emergency response.

The injured officers were rushed to Kings County Hospital, which is located within the confines of the 71st Precinct, where Forster served as executive officer. While the actual shooting happened in a different precinct, it reportedly would have been Forster's job to help organize the NYPD response at the hospital, including visits from top officials and family members of the injured cops.

The U.S. Army veteran who grew up in West Brighton told the Advance in an exclusive interview that he suffered a "hypertensive crisis" after he left work the night in question and was too sick to return.

Forster started work on Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m. the prior day and ended at 3:30 a.m. the day of the shooting, nearly a half hour before he and his precinct were notified of the assault, Forster told the Advance.

"I would never turn my back on two officers that were hurt," he said. "I didn't serve 15 months in Iraq to come home and betray two police officers. It would never happen."

The Curtis High School graduate joined the NYPD in January 2006 and rose swiftly through the ranks, making sergeant after five years, lieutenant after seven years and captain at nine years on the job. He currently attends New York Law School.