Drunk, high NY driver sentenced to over 20 years in prison for killing officer

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A woman who struck and killed a New York City police detective after speeding through an NYPD roadblock while driving drunk was sentenced Wednesday to more than 20 years in prison.

A jury convicted Jessica Beauvais, 35, of Hempstead of aggravated manslaughter and other charges in October. She was arrested in April 2021 following the death of 43-year-old Anastasios Tsakos.

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Tsakos, a father of two and 14-year veteran of the police department, was struck and killed around 2 a.m. on April 27, 2021, while assisting officers at the scene of another fatal crash on the Long Island Expressway in Queens.

NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos (left) was fatally struck by a drunk driver, who has since been sentenced to over 20 years in prison. (NYPD/LLN NYC)

Beauvais had a blood alcohol content that was nearly twice the legal limit for driving two hours after the accident, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said, and she also was without a valid license.

“Her license had been suspended, she was drunk and had smoked marijuana,” Katz said in a news release Wednesday. “For everyone’s safety and wellbeing, including her own, the defendant should not have been behind the wheel of a car.”

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A Supreme Court justice sentenced Beauvais to consecutive sentences of 20 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter and 2 1/3 years to 7 years for leaving the scene of an incident.