A man who was drunk and speeding when he ran a red light and killed a Nassau County police officer has been sentenced to prison. Matthew Smith was ordered on Monday to serve seven and a third to 22 years for the crash that took the life of Officer Patricia Espinosa, a case that filled a courtroom in Riverhead with grief as her family confronted the man responsible.
The crash happened on January 31. Prosecutors said Smith, who was 20 years old at the time, drove through a red light and slammed into Espinosa's car at 70 miles an hour as she was on her way to work. His blood alcohol level, according to prosecutors, was more than twice the legal limit when the collision happened.
Espinosa was a veteran of the department and a mother, and members of her own family also serve in law enforcement. Her death sent a wave of grief through the police community and through the relatives who packed the courtroom to watch the man who caused the crash learn how long he would spend behind bars.
The proceeding was wrenching. One after another, family members rose to deliver victim impact statements, many of them in tears. Her brother, Christian Almeida, told the court there were no words to describe the amount of pain, and said he would carry the image of the catastrophic scene of his sister's crash with him for the rest of his life.
Among the most emotional accounts came from Espinosa's husband, Francisco Malaga, himself a Nassau police officer. He recalled that he had come upon the crash that winter morning and stopped to help, not realizing at first that the victim was his own wife. He told the court he watched the love of his life slip away, calling it something that nobody should ever have to endure.
Espinosa's young daughter was in the courtroom as well, and relatives spoke of the milestones in the child's life that her mother would now never see. The absence at the center of the family, they said, would be felt for years to come, long after the hearing in Riverhead had ended and the sentence was handed down.
Smith, now 21, had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges. Turning to face the grieving family, he told them that he meant it with all his heart and that he was truly sorry. The district attorney said the case should stand as a stark warning about the dangers of drinking and then getting behind the wheel of a car.