Funeral for Nassau Police Officer Patricia Espinosa: As it happened

Funeral service concludes

Patricia Espinosa's coffin was carried out of the church at the conclusion of the service.

Police officers had poured out of the church and lined up in formation.

A bugler played taps, accompanied by bagpipes and drums. The flag-draped coffin was led into the hearse while nearly 1,000 officers saluted.

A bilingual service

The funeral service is in English and Spanish.

Espinosa’s husband, Nassau police officer Francisco Malaga, read Scripture in Spanish, and her brother also read a passage during the ceremony.

Nassau Police Chaplain Gerard Gordon said he visited Sunday with Espinosa's family at home in Saint James, where he gathered around the dinner table with other members of the department showing support.

They told stories of Espinosa and how she had bound their lives together. Gordon said as he told Espinosa's husband and parents, "You raised an exceptional family.

"For that reason, you will get through this time of tragedy, but that will be done together as the family that your parents created," Gordon said.

A 'beautiful human being' remembered in eulogy

Patricia Espinosa’s friend Christian Obando said he met her while working in the Fifth Precinct and that they bonded over their shared Ecuadorian heritage.

"I'm here to remind everyone of the beautiful human being she was, day in and day out," Obando said during a eulogy.

He said Espinosa always wanted to be a mother and had nearly given up on that dream before becoming pregnant with her and her husband Francisco's daughter, Mia, now 2.

"I know Mia will be in great hands with Patty watching over her and watching over Francisco," Obando said. "We know Francisco will do the best job in being a father" and telling their daughter about "the beautiful, most loving person she had for her mother.

"I don't know why God decided to take Patty from us so soon, but I'd like to think she had a higher calling we may never understand," Obando said.

Obando said Espinosa took pride in her career and in the accolades she received as an officer.

“Patty was a great cop and I mean that in every sense of the word,” Obando said. “She loved this job and was so grateful for the opportunities it gave her in life. But what I think she loved the most was the people she worked with.”

Espinosa's casket arrives; funeral beginning

A phalanx of motorcycles was at the front of the procession for the hearse carrying Patricia Espinosa's casket, as well as the transport van carrying her family.

The procession was led by Espinosa’s patrol SUV, now embossed with her name. It included numerous police vehicles and other civilian cars.

The casket was carried into the church as bagpipers and drums played "Amazing Grace" and hundreds of uniformed officers saluted.

The funeral is beginning.

Explaining the flag on Espinosa's casket

Patricia Espinosa's casket was covered by a thin-blue line American flag, a pro-police symbol.

The flag — an American flag in black and white with a blue stripe running horizontally — is meant to represent the conceptual "thin line" of law enforcement standing between chaos and peace society, according to retired Colorado Police Chief Joel F. Shults, who wrote about the flag's origins in a 2025 piece on the pro-law enforcement website police1.com.

Shults said the flag was created in 2014 to show support for law enforcement.

The flags gained popularity following the 2014 killings of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos and the 2016 killings of five Dallas, Texas police officers, according to a 2020 story in Politico magazine.

Huntington woman shows her support

Deborah Palermo, 57, of Huntington, stood several feet away from the line of police and first responders in the church parking lot around 10:40 a.m., awaiting Patricia Espinosa’s family.

Palermo said she didn’t know Espinosa, but that her late husband, Luis Palermo, worked for the Nassau police department’s Third Precinct for 23 years.

When he died in 2017 at age 49 from 9/11-related causes, the Nassau County Police Hispanic Society showed up for her and her family, Palermo said.

She felt compelled to attend Espinosa’s funeral.

"They were there for me during my toughest season," Palermo said. "Now I’m here for them."

Blakeman, Ryder speak outside church

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder spoke outside the church before the service.

"Patricia Espinosa, a great police officer, someone who was beloved in the Fifth Precinct and throughout the department," Blakeman said. "It's an incredibly sad day for our department."

He noted Espinosa’s husband is also a member of the department and that her brother is an officer in Philadelphia.

"This is a cop family, so we are here today, all of us again, to show our love and respect for Patricia and to support her family and the men and women of the Nassau County Police Department," Blakeman said.

Ryder spoke of the department’s heartbreak.

"This is a tragedy that didn't have to happen," he said. "This young lady went to go to work that morning, to go serve the people of Nassau County, and her life was tragically taken from her."

Police line up in formation outside church

Nassau County police line up in formation with Commissioner Patrick Ryder, awaiting the arrival of the coffin carrying Patricia Espinosa.

Espinosa’s Fifth Precinct colleagues were in formation at the front of the church.

What full police honors mean

Patricia Espinosa's funeral service will feature full police honors, typically given to officers killed in the line of duty, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told Newsday earlier this week.

Services with full police honors feature bagpipes playing taps and "Amazing Grace," a helicopter flyover and a gun salute.

Also, the department's honor guard will lead uniformed officers to stand at attention when the fallen officer's casket is transferred to a vehicle for the ride to the burial site.

Typically, the family of the fallen officer is presented with a police flag at the conclusion of the services.

Crowds gather at Smithtown church

By 8:30 a.m., before the funeral procession, the parking lot of St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church of Smithtown was packed with cars and first responders among the piles of snow.

The Nassau County PBA, MTA PBA, Suffolk County PBA and the FDNY Ceremonial Unit pitched tents in the parking lot, with members preparing a table of snacks, bottled water and aluminum pans and burners for hot food later.

The Elmont and Valley Stream fire departments parked trucks on either side of the parking lot entrance and began raising a large American flag just before 9:30 a.m.

What to know about Patricia Espinosa

Patricia Espinosa immigrated to the United States from Ecuador when she was 21. She joined the Nassau County Police Department nine years ago.

Espinosa was on her way to work at the Fifth Precinct early Saturday when police said alleged drunken driver Matthew Smith ran a red light and struck her vehicle in St. James. Smith, 20, of Hauppauge, has been charged with DWI.

Espinosa was married to fellow Nassau cop Francisco Malaga, who came upon the crash scene as he headed to work that morning.