Jessica Beauvais' statements to police after crash that killed NYPD cop Anastasios Tsakos can be used in trial, judge rules
Jessica Beauvais, right, listens to her attorney, Jorge Santos, in Queens County Criminal Court Thursday. Credit: Ed Quinn
A Queens judge Thursday rejected a Hempstead woman's request to keep out of her prospective trial statements she made to police after allegedly driving drunk in 2021 on the LIE in Queens, before striking and killing NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos of East Northport.
Jessica Beauvais, a 34-year-old single mother, had asked New York Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise to prevent prosecutors from using the remarks made after she was arrested on April 27, 2021 following the crash. Tsakos was diverting traffic off the eastbound Long Island Expressway at Exit 26 because of an earlier crash farther east when Beauvais, driving a Volkswagen sedan, allegedly hit him.
She claimed that since cops yelled at her and forced her out of her damaged vehicle after a brief pursuit, the statements she blurted out amounted to an interrogation that required police to read her Miranda rights.
In his 14-page ruling, disclosed during a brief court appearance by Beauvais on Thursday, Aloise said her statements were “spontaneously made” without any provocation or questioning by police and didn’t require any constitutional warnings.
NYPD Highway Patrol officer Anastasios Tsakos, who was killed by an alleged drunken driver on April 27, 2021. Credit: NYPD/NYPD
Aloise also rejected a claim by Beauvais' defense attorneys to suppress later statements she made under police questioning during a breathalyzer test. Aloise found that cops repeatedly gave Beauvais her Miranda warnings before she was questioned and that she had waived her Miranda rights. Police said the tests showed Beauvais was intoxicated.
During a hearing this year, police testified that they pursued Beauvais for two exits on the LIE after she allegedly struck Tsakos, finally stopping her at some storefronts on the Horace Harding Expressway. After ordering Beauvais to get out of the car, police said, she didn’t comply at first. The cops said they then shut off the ignition of Beauvais' vehicle and grabbed her arm.
Police body camera video showed Beauvais standing outside the car, sometimes speaking incoherently, yelling and appearing unsteady. The video showed that police didn’t question Beauvais as she continued to make statements outside the vehicle.
“The defense has offered no evidence to support that any interaction took place with police that undermine that valid, knowing, and voluntary waiver of her rights that took place in the [breathalyzer room] or later at the 107th Precinct,” Aloise said.
Irene Tsakos, widow of NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos. speaks with police union officials after a hearing in a Queens courthouse on Thursday. Credit: Ed Quinn
Tsakos, 43, was killed after, police said, Beauvais ignored a roadblock on the LIE and barreled into him, sending the married father of two through the air, resulting in catastrophic injuries.
Beauvais faces more than a dozen charges, including manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, fleeing the scene of an accident and driving while intoxicated.
Beauvais, who remains in custody after being unable to post $1.25 million bail, said nothing after the judge's ruling. Aloise set July 27 for her next court appearance and indicated a trial date might be set at that time. Defense attorney Jorge Santos of The Legal Aid Society declined to comment.
A woman who said she was Beauvais’ mother but didn’t identify herself, sobbed outside the courtroom but also declined to comment, only saying she now had to take care of her daughter's young son.
About two dozen police officers, including outgoing Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch, as well as Detectives' Endowment Association head Paul DiGiacomo, were in court, accompanying Tsakos’ widow Irene.
“I want justice to be served,” Irene Tsakos told Newsday outside the courtroom when asked about a prospective trial.
Asked how her two children were handling the situation, she said they miss their father and speak to him in their prayers at night.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
