.

The reckless drunk pleaded guilty last month to aggravated vehicular manslaughter and other charges, and was hit with a sentence of seven-and-a-half years to 22 years in state prison.

Mazzei wiped away tears as relatives delivered victim impact statements in a courtroom packed with kin and cops, among them Philadelphia Police Officer David Almeida, the dead woman's brother.

 As a police officer, I have responded to shootings, stabbings, fatal crushes, and countless tragedies, caused by impaired drivers just like you,  he told Smith.   I have a stood beside grieving families - I believed I understood their pain. No, I didn't. Not until it happened to my family.

6 The funeral procession for Nassau County Police Officer Patricia Espinoza, who was killed by a drunk driver. Elizabeth Sagarin for NY Post

 Nothing prepares you for the phone call that changes your life forever, nothing prepares you to bury your best friend, nothing prepares you to watch a little girl grow up without her mother, because someone chose to drink and get behind the wheel. I would not wish this pain to anyone,  he said.

Relatives said Espinoza migrated to the US from Ecuador with her family 20 years ago, and later became a corrections officer with her brother before each joined their separate police forces.

She and her husband were raising their young daughter while on the job - until tragedy struck.

Her sister, Cathalina Ramirez, said the tot will never really know her mom.

6 Espinosa is honored with her name on a Nassau County police vehicle. Elizabeth Sagarin for NY Post

 She made people laugh,  Ramirez said of her sibling.  She made people feel safe. She made everyone around her feel loved. She dedicated her life to protecting complete strangers as a Nassau County police officer. But to us, she was simply Patty. 

Smith kept his head down as he heard again and again of the pain he had caused.

 No sentence can restore what was taken from Officer Espinosa's loved ones, but today this

defendant begins paying the price for his conduct,  Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney said in a statement.  He was intoxicated, speeding, and lawless behind the wheel of a 5,000-pound pickup truck, and a police officer on her way to serve her community paid with her life.