Funeral held today for Nassau County police officer killed in DWI crash
Hundreds of fellow police officers, family and friends came together in a show of support and solidarity for the fallen officer.
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Family, friends and fellow members of law enforcement said their final goodbyes to a Nassau County police officer killed on her way into work last weekend by a suspected drunk driver.
The funeral service for Officer Patricia Espinosa, 42, took place at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church on E. Main Street in Smithtown.
On Jan. 31, Espinosa was driving westbound on Route 347 near the Smith Haven Mall when suspected drunk driver Matthew Smith, 20, allegedly blew a red light going north on Alexander Avenue around 6 a.m., Suffolk County police said.
Police charged Smith with one count of Driving While Intoxicated. He remains at Stony Brook University Hospital, where he has not yet been arraigned.
According to investigators, Smith and a passenger tried to get into Jake's 58 in Islandia only an hour before the crash, but they were turned away because the casino was closed at that hour.
A native of Ecuador, Espinosa, had been with the Nassau County Police Department since Dec. 2017 and served in the Fifth Precinct in Elmont.
The St. James resident is being remembered for her infectious smile, as the family cheerleader and devoted to anyone in need.
"She was just so beautiful," Nassau County police officer and close friend Yolanda Turner said. "I never saw her sad. I never saw her angry. She was always striving to be the best person that she could be. She was always striving to make others better than what they were."
She leaves behind her husband, Nassau County police officer Francisco Malaga and their daughter, Mia, not yet two years old.
