Statement on Behalf of the Family of Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Espinosa Following Guilty Plea

RIVERHEAD, N.Y., June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The family of Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Espinosa today expressed its profound gratitude to the Suffolk County Police Department and the Office of Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney following the guilty plea of Matthew Smith, the drunk driver who killed Officer Espinosa on January 31, 2026, as she drove to work to protect the community she loved.

Smith, 21, of Hauppauge, pleaded guilty Thursday in Suffolk County Criminal Court to aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, aggravated vehicular assault, assault, and aggravated driving while intoxicated. He will be sentenced on July 20 to 7⅓ to 22 years in state prison.

"The work of the Suffolk County Police Department and the District Attorney's Office in this case was nothing short of extraordinary. From the first hours of the investigation, they built a case so overwhelming that this defendant had no choice but to stand up in open court and admit everything he did. That matters enormously to this family. They have been spared a trial, and years of appeals, in which they would have been forced to relive, over and over again, the most horrific event of their lives."

The criminal case, however, is only part of the story. Smith was 20 years old, not legally permitted to buy a single drink, on the night he spent purchasing and consuming alcohol before getting behind the wheel with a blood alcohol level of 0.20%, more than twice the legal limit.

In his sworn allocution, Smith admitted that he purchased alcohol that night at multiple Suffolk County establishments, Aqua Vitae Wines and Liquors in Hauppauge, Buffalo Wild Wings in Miller Place, Felt in Hauppauge, and the James Joyce in Patchogue, and that not a single one of them asked him for proof of age at any point. At the James Joyce, he admitted, he simply walked in a back door without ever presenting identification.

"There were multiple occasions that night when multiple establishments could have simply followed the law and refused to serve an underage patron. Each and every one of them failed in that obligation. Had even one of them done what the law required, Patricia Espinosa could have been alive today, raising her daughter, beside her husband, and serving this community. The family fully supports the criminal justice system's resolution of this case, and they now intend to seek full accountability from every one of those establishments through the civil justice system. That case will be pursued with the same determination the District Attorney brought to this one."

Officer Espinosa, 42, was a nine-year veteran of the Nassau County Police Department's Fifth Precinct. She is survived by her husband, Nassau County Police Officer Francisco Malaga, their young daughter, and her brothers and sister.

Media Contact:
Howard S. Hershenhorn
Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf
80 Pine Street, New York, NY 10005
tel 212 943 1090 email [email protected] 

SOURCE Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf