Woman who hit and killed NYPD officer in 2021 gets 20+ years in prison: DA

QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) – A woman who hit and killed an NYPD officer while driving drunk on the Long Island Expressway in 2021 was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison Wednesday, the Queens district attorney said.

Jessica Beauvais, 35, of Hempstead, was convicted last year in the death of NYPD detective Anastasios Tsakos on April 27, 2021.

Beauvais was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison on an aggravated manslaughter charge and to two-and-one-third to seven years in prison for leaving the scene of an incident, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office. The sentences will run consecutively, officials said.

The night Tsakos died, he responded to the scene of a fatal car crash on the eastbound side of the Long Island Expressway at the entrance ramp to the Clearview Expressway.

Tsakos and his partner set up a roadblock using traffic cones and a marked police vehicle in order to divert traffic around the crash. Beauvais sped through the traffic cones and fatally struck Tsakos, who was standing beyond the roadblock, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

After hitting Tsakos, Beauvais drove off and was pursued by police. At one point, Beauvais put her vehicle into reverse and hit a police cruiser before she was apprehended, authorities said.

Police determined Beauvais’ blood alcohol level was at nearly twice the legal limit. Beauvais told police she smoked marijuana and had been drinking earlier in the day, according to authorities.

“Her license had been suspended, she was drunk and had smoked marijuana. For everyone’s safety and well-being, including her own, the defendant should not have been behind the wheel of a car. A police officer, doing his job protecting others, lost his life. I hope today’s sentence provides at least some closure for the detective’s loved ones,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.