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Long Island resident Kerri Bedrick, age 32, of Centerport, pleaded not guilty to aggravated DWI and related charges in Suffolk County Court on Friday, Aug. 23.
It came one day after an early-morning wreck on the Southern State Parkway in Islip that killed her 9-year-old son, Eli.
New York State Police said Bedrick was driving an SUV west in the eastbound lanes at around 2:20 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, when she caused a head-on crash involving three other vehicles near exit 42.
When troopers arrived, they found Bedrick standing outside of her vehicle and found her 9-year-old son in the backseat with his seatbelt fastened. Troopers and Suffolk County Sheriff’s deputies performed CPR on the child, but he eventually died from his injuries.
Bedrick was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip with non-life-threatening injuries.
The other drivers were identified as a 29-year-old woman from Center Moriches and a 24-year-old man from Brentwood, who both suffered minor injuries.
A fourth driver, a 64-year-old Brooklyn man, was uninjured.
Speaking at a press conference hours later, New York State Police Major Stephen Udice said Bedrick was driving the wrong way on Sunrise Highway before entering the Southern State Parkway.
She ignored a Suffolk County deputy sheriff’s attempt to pull her over just moments before the wreck.
"It was a very severe collision. It was a head-on collision," Udice told reporters. "The damage to the vehicles involved was extensive, and as I said to you before, to give you an idea, the engine from the vehicle, the wrong-way driving vehicle, was thrown, was cut, was severed from the vehicle and thrown from that vehicle landing in the woods.”
Bedrick’s license was expired at the time of the crash and she’s had a total of 56 suspensions, according to the Suffolk County DA's criminal complaint.
Prosecutors revealed that when she was arrested, troopers found her in possession of various pills, including methamphetamine.
When troopers asked the woman where she was driving to, she reportedly responded, "I honestly don't know."
The trooper then asked when she last taken the pills and she responded, "I don't remember if it was yesterday or today."
Results of a blood draw are still pending.
Bedrick is charged with the following:
- Aggravated unlicensed operation (felony)
- Operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs (misdemeanor)
- Aggravated DWI with a child under 16 (felony)
- Endangering the welfare of a child (misdemeanor)
- Criminal possession of a stimulant (felony)
She was jailed on a $2 million bond.
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