The boozed-up driver who allegedly killed a Nassau County police officer was out underage drinking before the deadly crash — and accelerated before hitting the beloved cop, prosecutors said, as tearful mourners wept through the motorist’s arraignment on Friday.
Matthew Smith, 20, went on a binge at James Joyce bar in Patchogue before speeding and swerving through local streets, driving over 70 mph in a 30 mph zone and blowing through a “steady” red light just after 6 a.m. last Saturday, prosecutors said.
He finally floored the gas, just one second before ramming his Chevrolet Silverado into Nassau Police Officer Patricia Espinosa’s Alfa Romeo while she was on her way to work that morning, prosecutors detailed.
“We wish that today was a nightmare and now we’ll wake up, but unfortunately that’s not reality,” said Nassau County Police Benevolent Association President Tommy Shevlin, who showed up to Friday’s arraignment with an army of officers and other union leaders were seen hugging each other and crying as he spoke.
“This isn’t just one bad decision, this is a bunch of bad decisions by [Smith] who has lived a reckless life — driving on our streets where our communities, our families, our children live,” Shevlin added, adding the past week has been the “roughest” in his nearly 30-year career.
Espinosa’s car was hit so violently that it flipped upside down in the collision, leaving the 42-year-old officer hanging inverted inside the wreckage for more than 30 minutes as first responders worked to free her, prosecutors said.
She was rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead almost immediately upon arrival.
Prosecutors said Smith’s blood alcohol level was a staggering .20% after the crash — more than twice the legal limit and a level typically associated with blackouts and profound impairment.
His passenger, John Andali, had just met Smith less than an hour before the crash in a late-night taco spot across the street from the bar when the pair sparked a quick friendship and drunkenly decided to hit the nearby Jake’s 58 casino, prosecutors detailed.
Andali, who later told police Smith was acting “crazy,” posted videos on social media just 30 minutes before the crash that showed Smith behind the wheel of the truck hitting speeds of up to 125 mph, blowing stop signs and recklessly swerving around cars at high speeds on their way to the casino.
After arriving and realizing the casino was closed at the time, Andali asked for a ride home, where the reckless driver continued down residential streets and hit almost 120 mph again just minutes before he took Officer Espinosa’s life, prosecutors said.
“[Smith] turned the roads of Suffolk County into his own personal raceway,” Emma Richards, the Assistant District Attorney prosecuting Smith, told the court.
Data recovered from the truck’s black box revealed that Smith was traveling over 70 mph at the time of the crash, with the accelerator being smashed down 99% just one second before impact — never even attempting to hit the brakes.
After the deadly collision, police recovered a bottle of Bacardi rum, a shot glass, rolling papers, and other items from inside the pickup, while officers at the scene reported that Smith had slurred speech and bloodshot, watery eyes, prosecutors said.
Smith, who was wheeled into court Friday with a broken leg and other injuries, pleaded not guilty to DUI and was held on $1 million cash, $2 million bond, and $10 million partially secured bail after Judge Eric Sachs deemed him a flight risk.
Prosecutors told the court Smith is expected to face upgraded charges of aggravated vehicular homicide in the very near future, which carries a potential of up to 25 years in prison.
Sachs also suspended Smith’s driver’s license, noting the recklessness shown in the videos, his past laundry list of traffic violations, and alleged domestic violence incidents — including an attack on his own father that resulted in an order of protection and probation.
Anthony La Pinta, Smith’s attorney, told reporters after the arraignment that Espinosa’s death is a “deep wound” for the entire community, and said there are “broken hearts on both sides.”
Officer Espinosa is survived by her two-year-old daughter, Mia, and her husband, who is also a Nassau County police officer and was present in the courtroom alongside her brothers, who are also in law enforcement.
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