Metro

Two cops arrested for taking bribes

Two off-duty police officers were arrested in Queens for selling accident reports in an alleged insurance scam, authorities said.

Police Officers Roberto Espinal, 44, and Danny Cano, 37, were cuffed Wednesday in separate incidents and slapped with charges of public servant receiving bribe and official misconduct.

Espinal was also charged with receiving reward for official misconduct.

The officers are said to have accepted cash payments ranging from $40 to $1,500 for copies of official NYPD accident reports, officials said.

Cano, assigned to the 115 Precinct, allegedly sold the reports to “runners,” who would then find accident victims and bring them to certain clinics and physicians as part of a larger insurance fraud scheme. He is said to have made around $6,200 for his part in the scam.

Espinal, who works out of the 110 Prceinct, is accused of selling reports with the names of certain accident victims and received between $40 and $800 for handing over the reports. For turning over a total of seven victims names, Espinal is said to have made $1,500.

Both men have been suspended without pay and face up to seven years in prison.

“The defendants are alleged to have been operating independently of each other in this accident victim solicitation scheme,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “However what they allegedly did have in common was that they both tarnished their NYPD badges by exploiting the misfortune of others to unjustly enrich themselves.”

Police said the Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating the case.