pressconf
Fresh Meadows, Queens (77WABC) — An NYPD officer died at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital after being struck by an allegedly intoxicated 32-year-old female driver from Hempstead, driving with a suspended license on the Long Island Expressway in the Fresh Meadows section of Queens early this morning. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said, the officer, 43-year-old Anastasios Tsakos, assigned to Highway 3, responded to a fatal crash involving a vehicle into a utility pole. He was standing next to his police cruiser directing traffic when Shea said the woman, driving a 2013 Volkswagon, veered into the path of the officer “striking him head-on.”
Police have identified the Hempstead woman as 32-year-old Jessica Beauvais of 8 Myrtle Ave. She faces a long list of charges including 2 counts of Vehicular Manslaughter:
The NYPD says the woman is charged with the following:
- Vehicular Manslaughter (2 Counts)
- Reckless Endangerment
- Flee Officer in Motor Vehicle
- Leave Accident – Result in Death
- Aggravated Unlicensed Operator
- Operating Motor Vehicle .08 of 1% Alcohol
- DWI – 1st Offense
- Reckless Driving
- Motor Vehicle License Violation: No License
- Right of Way Violation: Emergency Motor Vehicle
- Collide with Emergency Vehicle
- DWAI Alcohol
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said during a press conference at the hospital that one of three occupants inside the vehicle that initially crashed also died. NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio at the hospital said the driver of the vehicle that crashed into the utility pole was also driving with a suspended license. “You see here a horrendous pattern, people doing the wrong thing and other people dead because of it,” the Mayor said. Shea said officers who first responded to the initial crash scene broke the window of the burning vehicle to rescue occupants inside.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea and Mayor Bill de Blasio brief New Yorkers about the tragic line-of-duty death of an NYPD Highway 3 officer. The officer was at an unrelated vehicle collision in Queens when a driver who was intoxicated struck and killed him.pic.twitter.com/XkTp8QGA3v
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 27, 2021
Shea said Tsakos was a husband and father of two young children and a “highly regarded” member of Highway 3. He leaves behind a wife, a 6-year-old son, and a 3-year-old daughter.
An emotional PBA President Pat Lynch complimented Tsakos during the press conference calling him a “good guy.” You can listen to his comment below:
This morning, @NYPDHighway Officer Anastasios Tsakos, a husband & father of 2 young kids, was tragically killed while protecting NYers.
The entire NYPD hurts tonight as we reconcile the loss of our brother. A loss not only for our NYPD family, but all of NYC.#fidelisadmortem pic.twitter.com/q8t6770Hms
— Edward A. Caban (@NYPDPC) April 27, 2021
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea during this morning press conference said it was “devastating” to speak to the officers’ widow:
Commissioner Shea also called for the “toxic” anti-police rhetoric to stop now. He said, “we have to stop the rhetoric that is taking place not only in this city in this country, it is toxic and it has to stop and we need leaders to stand up and call for it to stop across this entire country, now.”
Officer Tsakos was struck on the eastbound lanes of the Long Island Expressway near Francis Lewis Boulevard just before 2 a.m. this morning.
We mourn the tragic death of @NYPDnews Officer Anastasios Tsakos, who lost his life overnight while protecting our city. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and NYPD colleagues as they grieve his passing. Rest in peace, Officer. pic.twitter.com/8QZwxI4Pl6
— FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) April 27, 2021
Beauvais was on foot when taken into custody on the nearby Horace Harding Expressway.
