James Ryan Sentenced in Chain-Reaction Crash That Killed Nassau Cop Joseph Olivieri

MINEOLA, NY - A 29-year-old Oakdale man was sentenced to 5-8 years in prison Wednesday for drunkenly causing a chain-reaction crash that killed Nassau Police Officer Joseph Olivieri in 2012.

James Ryan was found not guilty of the top charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, but a jury last month convicted him of numerous other charges, including aggravated criminally negligent homicide, vehicular manslaughter, manslaughter and DWI. Here is how prosecutors described what occurred around 5 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2012:

Just before 5 a.m. on October 18, 2012, Ryan was driving his Toyota Camry eastbound on the LIE after leaving a Manhattan club when he struck a livery cab driver at a high rate of speed. The cab driver was able to steer his car off the road, but Ryan fled the scene despite sustaining significant front end damage to his vehicle.

Before passing the next exit, Ryan slammed on his brakes, coming nearly to a complete stop before an off-duty New York Police Department detective who was driving behind Ryan slammed into the rear of Ryan’s vehicle. The detective’s vehicle spun around violently and came to a rest facing westbound. The officer suffered a fractured sternum, multiple fractured ribs, and heart palpitations.

Ryan's vehicle spun into the concrete barrier, perpendicular across the HOV lane before officer Olivieri, the first responder on the scene, blocked off the detective’s car in the right lane with lights and sirens before crossing the roadway on foot to Ryan’s position in the HOV lane.

A black SUV driving eastbound in the HOV lane swerved but struck Ryan’s vehicle and Olivieri.

Ryan’s blood-alcohol content at the scene was between .13 and .14 percent.

Prosecutors said Ryan admitted to having consumed three vodka and Sprite drinks, the first of which was a two-shot vodka drink, while at Three of Cups Lounge in Manhattan before the crash.

“This prosecution represents the first time a DWI driver is being charged for an officer’s death under these circumstances and I believe it is essential that we take on this unique fight for Police Officer Joseph Olivieri and his fellow officers who continue to be endangered by the criminal acts of others,” Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said in 2015. “Officer Olivieri was killed in the line of duty because James Ryan was committing a crime when he drove drunk, crashed and fled the scene and those criminal acts put Officer Olivieri directly in harm’s way”.

The driver of the SUV, 50-year-old Francis Belizaire, of Bay Shore, was not charged in Olivieri's death and Ryan's attorney argued that prosecutors had "been blinded by the allegations of [Ryan's] alcohol use."

“There’s nobody else to criminally blame, so they blame Ryan," his attorney, Marc Gann, told the Associated Press in January. "It’s extremely unusual for a person not driving to be charged with a vehicular death.”

News 12 reporter Eileen Lehpamer tweeted Wednesday morning that "James Ryan cried as he apologized to Nassau Police Officer's family before he was sentenced to at least 5 years."