LI Woman Gets 20 Years For Killing NYPD Cop In Hit-And-Run: Queens DA

QUEENS, NY — A Hempstead woman has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for killing an NYPD officer during a drunken hit-and-run in Queens, prosecutors announced.

Jesssica Beauvais, 35, received back-to-back sentences from a judge on Wednesday for convictions on manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash.

Tsakos, 43, of East Northport, was directing traffic at another fatal crash on April 27, 2021, when he was struck by Beauvais on the Long Island Expressway, police said.

Beauvais faces 20 years for manslaughter and at least 2 years and four months for a hit-and-run.

"Her license had been suspended, she was drunk and had smoked marijuana," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

Tsakos stood at a roadblock as Beauvais drunkenly sped through traffic cones and struck him, sending his body flying 170 feet through the air, prosecutors said.

He died at a nearby hospital.

Beauvais was stopped three miles away by a police cruiser that she also hit, prosecutors said.

Her blood-alcohol content tested two hours at 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit for driving, authorities said.

"I hope today's sentence provides at least some closure for the detective’s loved ones," Katz said.

Tsakos was mourned by his fellow NYPD officers and by Long Islanders, who both formed a crowd of tens of thousands that lined the roads leading to his church for a funeral procession in Greenlawn.