New York mother charged with drug and traffic offenses after her 9-year-old son dies in accident

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A New York mother who drove the wrong way on a busy highway and subsequently caused a four-vehicle pile-up in which her nine-year-old son died has now been charged with drug and traffic offenses.

Kerri A. Bedrick, 32, of Centerpoint, New York, was allegedly under the influence of drugs when she crashed her car on Thursday, injuring three people and killing the young woman.

The boy was later identified 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 handcuffed, wearing a blue hospital gown and brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair to be arraigned.

The charges included driving without a license, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs, driving while under the influence of alcohol with a child under 16 as a passenger, endangering the welfare of a child and illegal possession of a stimulant.

At arraignment, she pleaded not guilty and her bail was set at $1 million. Bedrick is due back in court on August 27.

Before the accident, a Suffolk County Sheriff's deputy observed the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross driving the wrong way on the highway in the lane next to him around 2:15 a.m. Thursday, according to Deputy Undersheriff John Becker.

The officer turned around, turned on his blue lights and siren and tried to stop the accident, Becker said.

“However, the wrong-way driver accelerated and refused to stop,” said Udice.

The nine-year-old boy was sitting in the back seat with his seat belt fastened. After the accident, officers tried to save the boy's life on site, but the boy later succumbed to his injuries.

“To give you an idea of ​​the severity of the impact, the engine of the wrong-way vehicle was thrown into the woods some distance from the collision site,” Major Stephen Udice of the New York State Police said at a press conference on Thursday.

At her arraignment on Friday, Bedrick's lawyer told the court that she suffers from several illnesses, including spina bifida and narcolepsy, and is also a victim of domestic violence, New York ABC station WABC reported.

“My client was a victim. She took medication that was prescribed to her,” the lawyer said, according to WABC. “She is in denial, has not processed what happened to her and what happened with the death of her son.”

Bedrick's mother, Diane Bedrick, also spoke to reporters outside the courthouse after the arraignment on Friday and said her daughter had been a good mother.