Ex-cop pleads guilty in DUI slay
A former NYPD officer whose drunken car wreck led to the death of an MIT student in 2016 has pleaded guilty in exchange for a five- to 15-year prison term.
Nicholas Batka, 30, copped last Monday to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges relating to the Brooklyn crash that killed Andrew Esquivel, according to court records.
“You were driving drunk and you killed someone — fair to say?” Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Konvisor asked Batka before accepting the plea.
“Yes, your honor,” the former cop replied.
Batka also admitted to injuring the three other students in the crash.
He was fired by the NYPD after the accident.
He crashed his Dodge Durango into a crowd on the sidewalk as he drove home four hours before he was scheduled to report to work on July 16, 2016.
His blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit.
“Did I kill anybody?” bystanders said he asked before attempting to flee.
Neighbors told The Post at the time that they held the doors of his crumpled vehicle closed so he couldn’t escape after he crashed into Esquivel and his pals as they walked on a sidewalk in Williamsburg.
The three other students, two from MIT and one from NYU, survived.
“Mr. Batka has intended to accept full responsibility for the pain and loss he has caused since the moment this case began,” defense attorney Michael Farkas said.