A former NYPD officer who killed her husband in a high-speed, booze-fueled crash in upstate New York has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide charges, but isn’t expected to face any jail time, officials said Tuesday.
According to a plea deal hammered out with the New York Attorney General’s Office, Bernadine Ramtahal Thomas is expected to get five years probation for the 2023 crash when she is sentenced in May, the AG confirmed.
Ramtahal Thomas, 36, was heading north on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Rockland County at speeds of up to 109 mph on Feb. 26, 2023, when her vehicle veered off the road and slammed into a tree.
Her husband, Chevy Thomas, also 36, was in the passenger seat and died at the scene. The off-duty officer was taken to an area hospital in critical condition, but she ultimately recovered.
Investigators determined that the officer’s blood alcohol content was 0.10 — just above the legal limit — when she collided with the tree.
The couple lived in Maybrook, in Orange County, N.Y. Thomas joined the NYPD in 2016 and was assigned to the NYPD’s Bronx Transportation Bureau.
After the crash, she was assigned to the Bronx Criminal Court Section before leaving the department in January.
Thomas pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide on Monday and will remain out on bail until her sentencing on May 7, officials said.
Her attorney, Michael Martinez, declined to comment when reached Tuesday.