A Long Island mother was slapped with charges in a horrific wrong-way crash that killed her 9-year-old son and injured several others early Thursday, authorities said.
Centerport resident Kerri A. Bedrick, 32, was allegedly behind the wheel of a 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross SUV that was seen traveling in the wrong direction on the Southern State Parkway near Exit 42 in Islip around 2:15 a.m., authorities said at a press conference.
The driver ignored a Suffolk County deputy sheriff’s attempt to pull her and sped up just moments before the terrifying four-car collision that killed her young son Eli Henrys, Major Stephen J. Udice of the New York State Police said.
The drivers of two other vehicles involved in the pileup — a 29-year-old woman operating a 2018 Mercedes Benz and and a 24-year-old man driving a 2011 Honda were taken to a local hospital, but their injuries were not life threatening, cops said.
She was given a field sobriety test at the scene, though authorities declined to release the results.
She was slapped with chargesincluding felony aggravated unlicensed operation, operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and aggaraved DWI with a child less than 16 and criminal possession of a stimulant, according to a news release.
The driver is also believed to have been spotted traveling in the wrong direction on Sunrise Highway — 5 miles from the crash site — before the horrific accident, Udice said.
“It was a very severe collision. It was a head-on collision. The damage to the vehicles was extensive,” he told reporters.
Here’s everything we know about Long Island mom’s wrong-way crash that killed her son
- Long Island mother Kerri A. Bedrick, 32, was slapped with charges in a horrific wrong-way crash that killed her 9-year-old son and injured several others early Thursday, authorities said.
- Bedrick ignored a Suffolk County deputy sheriff’s attempt to pull her over and sped up just moments before the terrifying four-car collision that killed her young son, Eli Henrys.
- The mom appeared to shuffle unsteadily as officers led her into a waiting patrol car later in the evening. She reportedly admitted to taking methamphetamine and was driving on a suspended license before the horrific incident.
- Bedrick had a whopping 56 past suspensions on her license and was previously convicted in 2012 for driving while intoxicated.
- Diane Bedrick, Kerri Bedrick’s mother, said her daughter had been struggling with medical issues before the tragedy.
- The force of the collision was so intense that the engine of the wrong-way vehicle was thrown “some distance” into the woods by the crash site, he added.The 9-year-old boy was removed from the back seat of the SUV by the deputy sheriff and a New York state trooper.
The two responders administered first aid, including CPR, to Eli at the scene before he was taken to the hospital, where he died.
“This was a traumatic event for all those involved,” Suffolk County Deputy Undersheriff John Beck said.
The deputy sheriff “will have the image of this young boy’s face forever etched in his memory,” Beck added.
In addition to the young boy, the driver of the wrong-way vehicle and the motorists in two of the other cars sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the authorities confirmed.
The boy’s mother is receiving medical care at Good Samaritan Hospital.
The state police declined to name the woman or her son pending family notification.
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