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A Nassau County woman is facing 13 charges, after allegedly hitting and killing an NYPD officer who lived in Suffolk County while driving drunk on the Long Island Expressway.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said on Tuesday, April 27 that Jessica Beauvais, age 32, of Hempstead, had been charged with aggravated manslaughter and two counts of vehicular manslaughter, and other crimes in connection with the death of Officer Anastasios Tsakos, age 43, of East Northport.
Beauvais sobbed and apologized following her arrest: "I'm sorry that I hit him and that he's dead," she said.
She is being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on a 13-count complaint charging her with:
- Two counts of vehicular manslaughter
- Aggravated manslaughter
- Reckless endangerment
- Flee officer in motor vehicle
- Leave accident - result in death
- Aggravated unlicensed operator
- Operating motor vehicle .08 of 1% alcohol
- DWI
- Reckless driving
- Motor vehicle license violation: no license
- Right of way violation: emergency motor vehicle
- Collide with emergency vehicle
If convicted, Beauvais faces up to 15 years in prison.
The hit-and-run incident took place at 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday after NYPD officers responded to the scene of a fatal, fiery car crash on the Long Island Expressway ramp to the Clearview Expressway.
NYPD officers who responded to the scene of the crash began to investigate with Tsakos assisting with traffic control.
Beauvais, who was driving a 2013 Volkswagen Passat, was going eastbound on the LIE at that time, allegedly at a high rate of speed, as she approached Tsakos, the DA said.
Beauvais then struck Tsakos, who was thrown in the air and landed in a nearby patch of grass, the criminal complaint said.
Beauvais did not stop or slow down and traveled several exits before exiting onto the Horace Harding Expressway where her car jumped the curb and mounted the sidewalk in front of 221-22 Horace Harding Expressway, where police surrounded the vehicle.
Beauvais then allegedly attempted to flee the scene by placing her car in reverse and ramming the police vehicle behind her twice before coming to a full stop. She was immediately apprehended by members of the NYPD, the DA said.
Officer Tsakos was rushed to a nearby hospital but died as a result of the injuries. He is survived by a wife and two children.
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