Andrew Esquivel, MIT Student, Killed by NYPD Officer Driving Drunk in Williamsburg

Pictured: Andrew Esquivel. Photo via Facebook

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN, NY — A drunk NYPD officer drove his car onto a Williamsburg sidewalk early Saturday morning, killing 21-year-old MIT student Andrew Esquivel and sending three others to the hospital, as previously reported by Patch.

According to police, the officer, Nicholas Batka, 28, was driving west on N. 8th St. at about 3 a.m. when he tried to turn right onto Bedford Avenue.

But Batka instead drove his 2012 Dodge Durango onto the sidewalk, police said, hitting four pedestrians. He was taken to Cornell Medical Center in stable condition.

Batka was arrested, and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office charged him with manslaughter, assault and driving while intoxicated, among other charges. The officer posted a $300,000 bond and was released, according to the New York Daily News.

The charges filed against Badka by the DA's office listed the deceased man as Andrew Esquivel.

Esquivel, from Healdsburg, California, was a student at MIT who was attending the university on a full scholarship, according to a report in The Press Democrat, a California paper.

According to Esquivel's Facebook profile, he was six weeks into a software internship with a mobile marketing company in New York called Appboy.

On Monday, MIT released a statement expressing the university community's "shock and grief" at Esquivel's death.

Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart wrote that Esquivel was "an officer and respected leader of MIT's wrestling club," while also working on the development of "electronic medical record systems for undeserved areas."

In a statement, Appboy described Esquivel as "a vibrant young man and we are grateful to have gotten the chance to know him through his work on the intern team at Appboy. Our entire team has Drew and his family in our thoughts."

Scott Weidemier, who was Esquivel's wrestling coach at Healdsburg High School, which the victim attended, described him as "the greatest kid in the world," the Daily News reported.

“He was just an outstanding person," Weidemier told the paper. “He went out of his way to help people. He was involved in community service. He was an all-American boy.”

The DA's charges list the three other victims of the crash as Sophia Tabchouri, 20, who "suffered severe trauma to her leg" and was taken to Bellvue Hospital in stable condition; Divya Menezes, 23, who "suffered severe trauma to both legs and her right arm, as well as a pelvic fracture" and was taken to Bellvue in critical condition; and James Balchunas, 24, who sustained "severe trauma to his right leg" and was transported to Weill-Cornell Medical Center for Surgery.

MIT confirmed Monday that Tabchouri is a student in the school's class of 2018, while Balchunas graduated in 2014.

"To Sophia and James, we extend out best hopes for their recovery and we offer them and their families any support we can," Chancellor Barnhart wrote.

The fourth injured student, Divya Menezes, is a student at New York University, school spokesman John Beckman confirmed on Monday.

""The NYU community is saddened by the news of this terrible automobile crash and its tragic toll," Beckman wrote in a statement. "We are reaching out to [Divya] to offer support. Our thoughts are with her and her family, as are our wishes for a speedy recovery to full health."

According to the News, Batka was kept in his car by "enraged onlookers" who feared he was going to flee the scene.

The paper recounted a panicked scene following the crash, as other pedestrians struggled to help the gravely injured victims.

Witnesses told the News that Batka tried to back his car up after the impact, but instead drove forward into a townhouse stoop.

After police arrived, Batka declined to submit to a blood test to evaluate the level of alcohol or drugs in his system, according to the DA's filing against him.

The officer's uncle told the paper that he didn't have a history of alcohol abuse. The paper also reported that the cop had taken custody of his niece in 2015 after Batka's brother died of a heart attack during a Christmas party.

“I know a lot of people who shouldn’t be cops … that have the wrong attitude, but Nick is mellow Jell-O,” Batka's uncle, Walter Leonick, himself a retired officer, told the paper. “I never worried about him doing anything wrong.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated since its original posting to include more names and details.