AWOL cop slap

Lt. who ducked out after officers shot suspended

AN NYPD lieutenant who went home because his shift was up after two cops were shot near his Brooklyn precinct has been suspended, the Daily News has learned.

Lt. Scott Forster (pictured) was suspended this week for 30 days for failing to show up at Kings County Hospital after the two officers were wounded during a shootout with an ex-con on Feb. 20, 2016, police said Friday.

At the time of the shooting, Forster was an NYPD captain and second-in-command at the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights. The crime occurred in another precinct, but the wounded officers were rushed to a hospital in Forster’s area.

“This all stems from the initial incident,” a law enforcement source said of Forster’s suspension.

Forster joined the NYPD in 2006 after a four-year stint in U.S. Army Intelligence, which included a 15-month deployment in Iraq.

He was already on modified assignment and demoted to lieutenant after being accused of gross negligence.

Yet he never quit and is at a precinct in Queens, police sources said.

The fallout from what he did still follows him more than a year after his boneheaded decision, according to those who know Forster.

An acquaintance of the disgraced cop, who wished not to be named, said he moved out of Staten Island and is keeping a low profile.

“He’s real quiet about what happened,” the pal said. “He doesn’t speak to anyone about it.

“Still, what he did doesn’t fly,” the source said. “Even if your eyes are falling out of your head, you show up when a cop is shot.”

When Police Officers William Reddin and Andrew Yurkiw were rushed to the hospital following a 3:20 a.m. clash with 33-year-old career criminal Frederick Funes, Forster — whose shift ended at 4 a.m. — disappeared to his Staten Island home.

The probationary captain was supposed to help with the NYPD’s “hospital plan” and organize visits for the wounded cops’ families before they were visited by Mayor de Blasio and then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, police said.

The next day, he called in sick with stomach pain and diarrhea, sources said.

In a letter to the Staten Island Advance last year, Forster claimed he would not have gone home without good reason.

“Those that know me or have worked for me will attest to the fact that looking after our police officers is something I have always done,” Forster wrote. “To be accused of leaving those officers that were shot in the 81st Precinct and who were then transported to Kings County Hospital within the confines of my precinct has hurt my reputation and my honor among my co-workers and family alike.” Attempts to reach Forster were unsuccessful Friday.

Officer Reddin declined to comment about Forster’s suspension. A call to Yurkiw was not returned.