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Queens woman convicted of manslaughter for fatally hitting NYPD officer in 2021
By
Samantha Max
Published Oct 31, 2023
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Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
Published Oct 31, 2023
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A woman who struck and killed an NYPD officer while driving under the influence in April 2021 was convicted Tuesday of aggravated manslaughter and other charges.
Jessica Beauvais, 34, could spend up to 27 years in prison, according to the Queens district attorney’s office. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors say Detective Anastasios Tsakos was diverting traffic at the scene of a car crash on the Long Island Expressway around 2 a.m. when Beauvais struck him with her car, sending his body into the air. Tsakos landed about 170 feet away, his leg severed from the knee down, according to the DA’s office. He later died at the hospital.
Prosecutors also say Beauvais kept driving after striking Tsakos, and police followed her for three miles, until she pulled onto a sidewalk on the Horace Harding Expressway. Then, when a police vehicle drove up behind her, she backed into it.
Police arrested Beauvais and reported that her eyes were bloodshot, she was slurring her speech and her breath smelled of alcohol. Two hours later, according to the DA’s office, her blood alcohol content was .15 — nearly twice the legal limit of .08.
Beauvais told police she had smoked marijuana and had drunk wine earlier in the day. Prosecutors say her license was suspended at the time.
A jury convicted Beauvais of second-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting.
“Her selfish decision-making and recklessness led to a horrific, senseless tragedy that left Tsakos’ widow to raise their two young children without their father,” DA Melinda Katz said in a statement.
Traffic-related fatalities are one of the most common causes of death for police across the country, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s most recent annual report. The organization recorded 56 traffic deaths last year — 16 of them officers who were hit outside of their patrol vehicles. The year Tsakos was killed, 27 officers nationwide were fatally hit outside their patrol cars, the report found.
Tagged
Melinda Katz
long island expressway
public safety
law enforcement
nypd
queens district attorney's office
queens
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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