Suffolk Cop Reportedly Caught on Tape Apologizing For Assaulting Emporium Owner

Tim Lorito, the owner of The Emporium in Patchogue, says the Suffolk County cop accused of assaulting him outside the nightclub in 2013 was secretly recorded apologizing for the incident.

Lorito filed a civil suit against officer Gregg Drzal and other members of the police department last December, a year after the alleged assault, which took place after Drzal’s three sons were booted out of the Railroad Avenue establishment for starting a fight.

News of the cellphone recording was reported by The New York Post on Thursday. In it, Drzal can reportedly be heard telling Lorito: “I want you to hear it from me. I’m wrong. I’m stupid. I’m sorry. I just want you to hear those words. There’s no defense.”

The Post did not publish the cellphone recording, which was taken during a meeting at a restaurant in January 2014, but it did publish surveillance footage (watch it below) from the club on Dec. 23, 2013, which shows the initial melee involving Drzal’s sons in The Emporium and then the chaotic scene outside.

In the lawsuit, Lorito claims that Drzal’s sons were quick to use their father’s occupation to threaten security members at the club, with one of them allegedly saying they were going to have police shut the venue down.

Lorito says that Drzal choked, punched and hit him in the head with a metal barricade before Lorito was able to escape and dial 911 to request that officers from other than the Fifth Precinct respond to the scene, Newsday reported.