An ex-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 sentence.
Nicholas Batka, 30, copped to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges last Monday relating to the Brooklyn crash that killed college student 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, according to a transcript.
He also admitted to injuring the three other students during the accident.
Batka was fired by the NYPD in the wake of the fatal accident. He crashed his Dodge Durango into a crowd on the sidewalk as he drove home just 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 they had to hold the doors of his crumpled vehicle closed so he couldn’t escape after he crashed into Esquivel and his pals as they walked on the 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,” his defense attorney Michael Farkas said.
“While nothing can change what happened, he hopes that his guilty plea will at least afford the victims and their families some sense of closure, and deter others from getting behind the wheel of a car while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
Batka will also spend 350 hours working with an alcohol awareness program called Choices and Consequences, prosecutor Timothy Gough told the court.
Farkas said his client would be speaking with young people about the dangers of driving drunk.
Batka will remain out on bail pending sentencing, which is currently set for February.



