Wife Of Slain LI NYPD Officer's Anguished Sentencing Address: Reports

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

Jesssica Beauvais, 35, received back-to-back sentences for convictions of 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, authorities said. Beauvais faces 20 years for manslaughter and at least 2 years and four months for a hit-and-run.

Tsakos was the husband of Irene and father of a girl and boy, who were ages 6 and 3 when their dad was killed.

"You killed my husband, an innocent man, a good man, who did nothing to you," Irene told Beauvais at her sentencing, Newsday reported. "That’s on your conscience. I have been consumed by this case and starving for justice for my husband and our family. I hope to get some solace after today. I know we will never get over our loss but I hope that God will help us put the pieces of our life together."

Beauvais quietly said, "I'm sorry," Newsday reported.

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 after at 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit for driving, authorities said.

"As Jessica Beauvais was sobering up in a police station that morning, our world was collapsing," Irene said at the sentencing, the New York Post reported. "Because of a single person’s despicable actions, our family was sentenced to a lifetime of loss."

Beauvais streamed a video where she said, "f--- the police," just hours before she crashed into Tsakos, law enforcement told NBC News.

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. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of detective.

Irene, at her husband's funeral in Greenlawn on May 4, 2021, said Tsakos was the "best father."

"So loving and nurturing," she said over a church loudspeaker. "He was a hands-on dad. There was nothing he wouldn't do for his children. He was their playmate, and he loved it."

Tsakos would build little houses out of cardboard boxes for his children, take them to the park, play in the yard with them, and read them funny bedtime stories that would keep them up rather than put them to sleep, Irene recalled. He comforted his kids when they had nightmares or when they were sick. He taught his son the names of all the tools he owned and allowed his daughter to dress his hair.

"Anytime our kids heard keys at the door, they knew it was Daddy coming home from work, and they screamed from excitement and jumped up and down," Irene said. "If only you could hear them. Most days, he would bring them little surprises, too."

Irene expressed her wish that she had more time with her husband.

"To watch our kids grow up, see them off to college and get married," she said. "I wish we could grow old together. That was the plan. But he was taken from us too soon. And now, our kids will grow up without their dad. Without their awesome dad. I will make sure they know who he is. Every day, they'll see his face and learn about all the wonderful things he did and what a hero he was. They will never forget. I will make sure of that."

Multiple fundraisers were organized for Tsakos's family.

A GoFundMe and a fundraiser on Fund the First have collectively raised more than $312,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.