Press Release
LONG ISLAND WOMAN CHARGED WITH KILLING NYPD POLICE OFFICER IN FATAL HIT AND RUN CRASH
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jessica Beauvais, 32, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and other crimes for allegedly driving while intoxicated and striking a New York City Highway Police Officer on the Long Island Expressway in the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 27, 2021.
District Attorney Katz said, “As alleged, the defendant, whose license had been suspended, got behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated, and a dedicated police officer is dead. His two young children are left without a father; his wife is now a widow and the entire community is in mourning. The officer was on the highway, assisting in the investigation of a fatal crash, when he was tragically struck and killed. The defendant allegedly hit and ran and had to be pursued.”
“The loss of life of a police officer who was out there on that highway and whose mission, in the purest sense, was keeping people safe is a profound tragedy. The fact that that life was taken by a driver whose license had been suspended, and who was intoxicated, is nothing short of criminal and should be treated that way,” said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Beauvais, 32, of Myrtle Avenue in Hempstead, Long Island, is being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on a 13-count complaint charging her with manslaughter in the second degree, aggravated manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting/death, unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the second and third degree, operating a motor vehicle while under influence of alcohol or drugs, as a felony, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, operating motor vehicle while under influence of alcohol, reckless driving, operating vehicle approaching parked, stopped, standing authorized emergency vehicle. If convicted, Beauvais faces up to 15 years in prison.
District Attorney Katz said that at approximately 12:30 a.m. on April 27, 2021, police responded to the scene of a car crash on the Long Island Expressway ramp to the Clearview Expressway. A driver, who was going eastbound on the LIE, lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a concrete wall while attempting to exit the expressway. The automobile burst into flames. The driver and two passengers were removed from the vehicle and rushed to a nearby hospital. A third passenger died at the scene.
Continuing, the DA said, NYPD officers who responded to the scene of the crash, began to investigate with Police Officer Anastasios Tsakos assisting with traffic control. Defendant Beauvais, who was driving a 2013 Volkswagen Passat, was going eastbound on the LIE at that time. The defendant was allegedly driving at a high rate of speed as she approached Officer Tsakos.
According to the charges, the defendant allegedly struck Officer Tsakos, who was thrown in the air and landed in a nearby patch of grass. Beauvais did not stop or slow down and travelled several exits before exiting onto the Horace Harding Expressway where her car jumped the curb and mounted the sidewalk in front of 221-22 Horace Harding Expressway, where police surrounded the defendant in the vehicle. Beauvais then allegedly attempted to flee the scene by placing her car in reverse and ramming the police vehicle behind her twice before coming to a full stop. She was immediately apprehended by members of the NYPD.
According to the charges, DA Katz said, the defendant was removed to the 112th Police Precinct where she submitted to an intoxilyzer test, which was administered over 2 hours after the fatal crash. The results of the test showed the defendant allegedly had a blood alcohol content of .15 – which is above the legal limit of .08 in New York City.
Officer Tsakos was rushed to a nearby hospital but died as a result of the injuries.
The investigation was conducted by Detectives Patrick McMahon, Walter Bowden and Edward Behringer of the New York City Police Department’s Collision Investigation Squad under the supervision of Sergeant Robert Denig.
Assistant District Attorney John W. Kosinski, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Bryan Kotowski and Robert Ciesla, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III, Senior Deputy Bureau Chief and Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.
**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.