Loved Ones Attend Private Wake For NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos
GREENLAWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A wake is being held Monday night for NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos, who was killed in the line of duty.
Earlier Monday, officers lined Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens for the start of a procession, carrying the casket to a church on Long Island.
Along the way, firefighters paused along overpasses to pay their respects.
As CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reports, dozens of New York's finest saluted the flag-draped coffin of NYPD Officer Anastasios Tsakos as it was carried outside a funeral home in Astoria, Queens, where he grew up.
A massive motorcade escorted his body to his wake in Suffolk County, Long Island. Firefighters on an LIE overpass paid tribute to the 14-year veteran of the NYPD, standing at attention and displaying the American flag.
A steady flow of family, friends and fellow officers have been coming to Saint Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church in Greenlawn to pay their final respects to Tsakos' family, and to show love and support for his wife Irene, his 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son whom he tragically leaves behind.
Pastor John Boyd did community outreach work with Tsakos and spoke with his widow Monday.
"I said to her I pray for you and your children. And she said please pray for my children, pray for my children," he said.
"He's a good guy. He didn't deserve this," said family friend Jim Mastoras. "He was a comedian. He mostly made people laugh. That's what's going to be missed about him."
Early Tuesday morning, Officer Tsakos was directing traffic after a fatal accident on the LIE in Fresh Meadows, Queens, when he was struck and killed by a hit and run driver. The woman, allegedly driving under the influence, was arrested a short time later.
"We will miss him immensely," said NYPD Lt. John Pappas, who was close friends with Tsakos, whom he called "Tasos" for 14 years.
They met through the St. Paul Society, an Hellenic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Society made up of mostly Greek officers.
"He was a very loving man to his friends, his family, his children," Pappas said. "And he gave of himself, and he wanted no recognition in return. That's the kind of guy he was."
