NEW YORK — Joseph Gray, the Brooklyn cop who killed a family with his minivan while drunk, is headed for prison — but if some of the police officers who handled his case last August had their way, he never would have made it to trial.

Thanks to an on-stand confession from a retired police officer who now lives in Florida, the controversy surrounding the investigation in the August 4, 2001, crash has mushroomed.

"Thinking back to the time, my intention was to give the subject a benefit," said now-retired NYPD Officer Martin Finkelstein, whose job it was to offer Gray a Breathalyzer and coordination tests, both of which he refused.

A police videotape shows retired officer Martin Finkelstein (right) and former Officer Joseph Gray (center), hours after his arrest on drunken driving and manslaughter charges.

Finkelstein testified that he and members of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association — the union that represents police officers — discussed ways in which Gray could beat the tests.

The meeting came two hours and 40 minutes after Gray plowed his 1996 Ford Winstar minivan into Maria Herrera, 23, her son, Andy, 4, and her sister, Dilcia Pena, 16, killing all of them. Another son born to Herrera on her deathbed died the following day.

Finkelstein's April 25 admission lit a fire under city groups dealing with police conduct in New York City, many of which came out with strong positions after Gray's drinking first made headlines.

On Friday, the Kings County district attorney launched an investigation into police misconduct, seeking to answer whether investigators hindered prosecutors in their case. And on Tuesday, a high-ranking official from the police commissioner's office will meet with prosecutors to discuss the probe. And even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has thus far remained mute on police issues, has addressed the controversy, telling reporters Sunday that "nobody is above the law." City and union officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Gray, 41, admits to drinking at least 12 beers the day of the collision, first in the parking lot of the 72nd Precinct after he finished the graveyard shift, and later at an off-limits strip club in the neighborhood.

While the Kings County district attorney may have its sights set on what happened during the meeting between Finkelstein and the PBA members, including Michael Immitt, a PBA trustee, the new police commissioner Ray Kelly may be preparing a new policy that would automatically eject cops such as Gray from the force.

According to the New York Post, the policy would banish "any uniformed member of the service who causes serious physical injury to another person while operating a motor vehicle."

A 14-year-veteran of the Sunset Park precinct, Gray resigned three weeks after the collision. Then-Commissioner Bernard Kerik came down hard on other officers in Gray's precinct, using the case as a platform to address larger issues of alcoholism in the department. In all, 17 other officers were disciplined, and three were fired.

Prosecutors say Gray was drunk, speeding and ran a red light at the time of the crash at the intersection of 46th Street and Third Avenue in Sunset Park, a largely immigrant neighborhood in central Brooklyn. His blood-alcohol content four hours after the crash was .016 percent.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 28, and could spend as many as 15 years in prison.