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A New York mother who drove the wrong way down a busy highway before causing a four-vehicle pile-up that killed her nine-year-old son has been charged with drug and driving offenses.
Kerri A Bedrick, 32, of Centerpoint, New York, was allegedly under the influence of substances when she crashd her car on Thursday, during which three people were injured and the youngster was killed.
The boy was later named by police as Eli D Henrys.
Bedrick appeared in court in Suffolk County on Friday where she was charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors. She was brought into the courtroom for her arraignment handcuffed, dressed in a blue hospital gown and in a wheelchair.
The charges included aggravated unlicensed operation, operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, aggravated DWI: with a child-passenger less than 16, endangering the welfare of a child, and criminal possession of a stimulant.
She pleaded not guilty during her arraignment and her bail was set at $1 million cash. Bedrick is due back in court on August 27.
Prior to the crash, a Suffolk County Sheriff’s deputy had observed the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross driving the wrong way in the lane next to him on the highway around 2:15 am on Thursday, according to Deputy Undersheriff John Becker.
The deputy turned around and activated his lights and sirens and attempted to stop it, Becker said.
"However, the wrong-way driver sped up and refused to stop," Udice said.
The nine-year-old boy was seatbelted in the rear seat. Officers performed CPR on the child at the scene following the crash, trying to save his life, but the youngster later succumbed to his injuries.
"To give you an idea of the severity of the impact, the engine of the wrong-way-driving vehicle was thrown from that vehicle into the woods some distance from the collision point itself," New York State Police Major Stephen Udice said at a press briefing on Thursday.
At the arraignment on Friday, Bedrick’s attorney told the court that she has several medical ailments, including spina bifida and narcolepsy, and was also a domestic violence victim, according to ABC New York station WABC.
"My client was a victim. She was on medication that was prescribed for her," the lawyer said, according to WABC. "She is in denial, has not absorbed what happened to her and her son’s death."
Bedrick’s mother, Diane Bedrick, also spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following Friday’s arraignment, saying her daughter was a good mother.
