24 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 13, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
L.I. woman indicted in hit-and-run that killed NYPD offi cer in Queens
BY BILL PARRY
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
A Long Island driver was indicted by
a Queens Grand Jury Monday in the
fatal hit-and-run that left NYPD Highway
Patrol Offi cer Anastasios Tsakos dead
last month, according to Queens District
Attorney Melinda Katz.
Jessica Beauvais, 32, was charged with
aggravated manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter
SUPPORT.
NOT FEAR.
FOOD
ASSISTANCE
TENANT
PROTECTION
COVID-19
TESTING,
VACCINE
AND CARE
FREE LEGAL
HELP
EMERGENCY
MEDICAID
All New Yorkers can access health care and social services
regardless of immigration status, ability to pay or employment status.
Learn more at nyc.gov/immigrants or call 311.
Questions about immigration and use of public benefits?
Call ActionNYC at 1-800-354-0365 for connections to
City-funded, free and confidential immigration legal help.
and other crimes for allegedly
driving while intoxicated and striking
Tsakos in the early morning hours of
April 27.
Beauvais, of Myrtle Avenue in
Hempstead, will be arraigned May 25 in
Queens Supreme Court on a 13-count
indictment.
It was aft er midnight on April 27 when
police responded to the scene of a onecar
crash on the Long Island Expressway
ramp entrances to the Clearview
Expressway. A driver who was headed
eastbound on the LIE lost control of the
car and slammed into a concrete wall. Th e
automobile caught fi re and two passengers
were pulled from the vehicle. Th ey
survived; however, a third passenger died
at the scene.
NYPD offi cers responded to the scene
of the crash and as they began to investigate,
Tsakos, who grew up in Astoria,
assisted with the traffi c fl ow. At that time,
defendant Beauvais — behind the wheel
of a 2013 Volkswagen Passat — was traveling
eastbound on the LIE allegedly at a
high rate of speed as she approached the
scene of the crash.
According to the charges, Beauvais
allegedly struck Tsakos and the impact of
the nearly two-ton car threw the offi cer in
the air briefl y before he landed in a nearby
patch of grass.
Beauvais allegedly did not stop or slow
down aft er striking the victim and continued
to travel several exits before taking
the Horace Harding Expressway off -
ramp. Th at’s when her vehicle jumped the
curb and mounted the sidewalk, where
police surrounded the defendant in her
vehicle. Beauvais then allegedly attempted
to fl ee the scene, according to the charges.
She put the car in reverse and rammed
the police vehicle behind her once before
coming to a full stop.
Members of the NYPD then immediately
arrested Beauvais. She was transported
to the 112th Precinct where she submitted
to an intoxilyzer test, which was administered
over two hours following the fatal
crash. Th e 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 state.
Tsakos was rushed to a nearby hospital
but died as a result of his injuries. He was
subsequently promoted to detective posthumously
by the NYPD.
“As alleged, there is a list of bad choices,
from drinking and getting high and getting
behind the wheel of a car, that ended
tragically with the defendant running
down Highway Offi cer Anastasios Tsakos
and then trying to get away,” Katz said.
“Posthumously promoted to detective,
Offi cer Tsakos was struck while directing
traffi c and protecting New Yorkers in
the aft ermath of a fatal one-car crash early
that morning. Th is is heartbreaking, and a
mother is left alone to raise a 6-year-old
and a 3-year-old.”
Th e list of charges that Beauvais is facing
includes: aggravated manslaughter in
the second degree; manslaughter in the
second degree; aggravated criminally negligent
homicide; vehicular manslaughter
in the second degree; leaving the scene
of an incident without reporting; unlawful
fl eeing a police offi cer in a motor
vehicle in the second and third degree;
two counts of operating a motor vehicle
while under infl uence of alcohol; operating
a motor vehicle while impaired by
combined use of drugs or of alcohol and
drugs; reckless driving; aggravated unlicensed
operation of a motor vehicle in
the third degree; and failure to exercise
due care when operating a motor vehicle
when approaching an authorized emergency
vehicle.
If convicted, Beauvais faces up to 15
years in prison.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The driver that allegedly struck and killed NYPD Anastasios Tsakos last month was charged in a
13-count indictment by a Queens grand jury.
/WWW.QNS.COM
/immigrants
link
