A New York mother is accused of driving the wrong way on a highway while impaired by drugs and causing a “severe” four-car collision that killed her 9-year-old son, according to state police.
The deadly crash occurred early Thursday in Suffolk County, Long Island. Police said Kerri Bedrick, 32, was behind the wheel of the wrong-way vehicle, and SUV. Her son, Eli Henrys, who was in the back seat, died in the collision, police said.
Bedrick was charged with multiple illegal drug and driving offenses, online court records show. The counts include a top charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance – methamphetamine – as well as driving while impaired by drugs, aggravated DWI with a child in the vehicle, endangering the welfare of a child, and operating a vehicle without a license, the records show. She pleaded not guilty during her arraignment on Friday and her bail was set at $1 million cash.
Bedrick, of Centerport, was brought into the courtroom for her arraignment handcuffed, dressed in a blue hospital gown and in a wheelchair. She is due back in court on Aug. 27.
ABC News has reached out to Bedrick’s attorney for comment.
The crash occurred on the Southern State Parkway and caused extensive damage to all vehicles, police said.
“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.
The drivers of three of the vehicles, including Bedrick, were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Bedrick’s SUV was the only one with an additional passenger, police said.
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 a.m. 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 deputy then came upon the four-car collision, Becker said. The deputy removed the child, who had been wearing a seatbelt, from the back seat and attempted life-saving measures, but the boy died after being transported to a local hospital, Becker said.
“This was a traumatic event for all those involved,” he told reporters during the briefing.
Police believe Bedrick had also been driving the wrong way down Sunrise Highway prior to getting on the Southern State Parkway, Udice said.
During Friday’s arraignment, Bedrick’s attorney told the court that she has several medical ailments, including spina bifida and narcolepsy, and was also a domestic violence victim, ABC New York station WABC reported.
“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 attorney asked for a reasonable bail so that the mother could attend her child’s funeral, before the judge set bail at $1 million cash, WABC reported.
Bedrick’s mother, Diane Bedrick, briefly spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following Friday’s arraignment, saying her daughter was a good mother.
“She loves him so much,” she said, calling her grandson a “sweetheart.”
Asked if the medical problems mentioned by her daughter’s attorney in court could have played a role in this, Diane Bedrick replied, “I think so.”
