The Hempstead woman accused of killing an NYPD officer from Long Island while driving drunk and high faced a judge Tuesday in a room that held her family and the parents of Anastasios Tsakos.
The Police Benevolent Association said there was evil inside of a Kew Gardens courtroom Tuesday, referring to 32-year-old Jessica Beauvais. She is charged with second-degree aggravated manslaughter and was arraigned on a grand jury indictment.
Beauvais is accused of being under the influence and fatally striking Tsakos on the Long Island Expressway, where he was directing traffic from a separate fatal accident. Police say Beauvais left the scene but was later arrested.
Beauvais pleaded not guilty after coming into the courtroom and smiling at her family in the audience. But she left the room in tears, as the judge continued to hold her without bail
PBA members were also in the courtroom, alongside Tsakos' parents, who came from Greece.
"You can imagine how difficult it was for Officer Tsakos' parents to sit in that courtroom - to face down the killer of their son," says PBA President Patrick Lynch. "The courage that they have ... the courage that a wife has who is at home today caring for and rearing their children alone because the evil that sat in this courtroom took her husband and their father away, so now she has to do on her own."
Beauvais' family and her attorney declined to comment. Beauvais is remanded until her next court date in July.
Pool Photos courtesy Corey Sipkin