LI’s culinary community is rallying for slain Nassau cop — as beloved married mom is laid to rest

A beloved Nassau County police officer killed by a suspected drunk driver over the weekend was laid to rest — as  Long Island’s culinary community rallied to help the tough-but-loving married mom’s family.

“She just made a homicide arrest a little over a month ago, when she kicked the door down and tackled the guy who stabbed somebody,” Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said of fallen cop Patricia Espinosa.

“But then she’d go out, and she’d be rescuing two kittens and trying to get somebody to adopt them.”

Espinosa, 42 — who was slain by accused drunken motorist Matthew Smith, 20, while driving to work Saturday — was remembered as a mother of a 2-year-old daughter, who was passionate about helping the area’s Hispanic residents including with a prom dress drive.

“She came here, she couldn’t speak English, so she learned the language, took the test, became a cop, and then she went to the fifth precinct,” Ryder said of Espinosa, who moved to the US from Ecuador at age at 21.

“That’s where she met her now husband, and they had the child together.”

“Everybody feels like they want to do something…Her young girl is going to grow up without a mother,” Ryder said.

To help Espinosa’s grieving family, restaurateurs have banded together through a “LI Pizza Strong” initiative to unite more than 200 local pizzerias to raise money in a pension-like fund.

It calls on slice shops across America to contribute $5 per pie sold on Feb. 25.

Meanwhile, supporters have already raised more than $260,000 on GoFundMe to “honor her legacy” and help pay for funeral costs.

Espinosa died after Smith crashed his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck into her Alfa Romeo on Route 347 by the Smith Haven Mall in St. James around 6 a.m. Saturday.

In a tragic twist, her husband, fellow NCPD officer Francisco Malaga, was among the cops who rushed to help at the car crash Saturday— without knowing his wife was the victim.

“He stops to help, and he finds out it’s his wife,” Ryder said, adding Malaga had been off-duty. “The story is horrible, something movies are made of.”

Espinosa leaves behind Malaga, her daughter, Mia, and two brothers on the force: Cristian, a fellow Nassau cop, and David, an officer in Philadelphia.

At her wake Wednesday night, the police chaplain described her daughter as “a miracle baby” — and Ryder later explained, “she struggled, like many young girls today, with stress and everything else in work life, trying to have a child with a husband.”

“She’s a loving mother at home, a person that’s giving back to her community, the sensitive side —  but then she’s ready to rock and roll when the police department calls her to serve,” Ryder said.

Her family likely needs financial support because, “She’s not a pensionable person…There’s no line of duty death settlement.”

“So who’s going to step up and do the right thing? The community,” he said.

Anthony Laurino, one of the three LI Pizza Strong co-founders, agreed, saying, “This is just something that hits home.”

“Everybody’s friends with a cop; the world needs law enforcement. Let’s face it, they’re keeping us safe and risking their own lives for ours. So it’s dear to all of us.”

Laurino, who owns Phil’s Pizza in Syosset, said the charitable effort usually only bands Long Island places together; however, they knew right away to make this much broader.

He became a viral sensation online for his hilariously unhinged videos slamming bad customer behavior, and is using that clout to nationally recruit fellow pizzaiolos to contribute dough to the upcoming fund.

“I made a lot of friends over the last year, a lot of pizzerias follow me. So I wanted to extend the invitation to them as well — hoping to make this something really big,” he said, adding, “They agreed with me.”

Pizza parlors from across the tri-state quickly signed on before a formal announcement, and he expects that list to grow after contacting places as west as Las Vegas and south as Florida.

“Once this goes public, it’s going to be well over 200 from all over, for sure.”

The upcoming fundraiser will also focus on preventing drunk driving, and the growing list of participating places will be available at Lipizzastrong.com in the coming days.

Previously, LI Pizza Strong was assembled only for three powerful local causes, spanning back to 2023.

They were a fatal upstate bus crash carrying Farmingdale High School band members that killed beloved faculty, the murder of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller of Massapequa Park, and a deadly car crash that killed two teenagers and a driver in West Babylon.

Those have raised nearly $400,000 total for the trio of causes, as stepping up has become a rite of passage on Long Island.

“People are always looking forward to doing this and supporting,” said co-founder Alyssa Guidice, who runs the popular “Dine LI” Facebook page with nearly 52,000 followers.

The third and final founder, TV producer turned pizza and bread maker Jim Serpico, echoed the sentiment, saying, “Our area has proved itself.”

“We’re kind of used to everyone coming together at this point,” he added. “Every pizzeria is flooded, and they can’t wait to support the cause.”

It’s also the one time Laurino never has to worry about making a new video about an obnoxious patron.

“Nobody’s complaining that they’re waiting for their pizza,” he said. “It’s just such a great day.”