A 9-year-old boy was killed after the car his mother was driving was involved in a head-on collision on New York's Long Island. At the time, his mother was allegedly under the influence, and her impairment led to her driving in the wrong direction, which caused the crash. Before the crash, the mom evaded the police who attempted to pull her over.
After the crash, which involved three other cars, the mother was given a field sobriety test, which led to her being charged with multiple counts, including DWI. She remains in police custody.
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The mom was reportedly driving in the wrong lane late at night.
In the early morning of August 22, Kerri Bedrick was driving in Suffolk County, New York, with her 9-year-old son, Eli D. Henrys, in the back seat of the car. A Suffolk County deputy sheriff reported that Bedrick was driving her car westbound in the eastbound lanes of the Southern State Parkway around 2:30 a.m.
According to a press release from the New York State Police, the officer tried to pull Bedrick over, but she didn't stop.
The police then began to follow Bedrick as she drove.
Instead of continuing to try to pull Bedrick over, the police chose to follow her, using the correct westbound flow of traffic to keep an eye on her. Eventually, the officer switched back to the eastbound lane, where they then found a four-car crash.
When the deputy arrived at the scene, Bedrick was standing outside of her car and her son Eli was in the back seat with his seat belt fastened. Authorities gave the boy CPR and used an automated external defibrillator to try to save him, but he didn't survive his injuries.
Police called the boy's death a 'tragedy.'
"To give you an idea of the severity of the impact, the engine of the wrong-way driver vehicle was thrown from that vehicle into the woods, some distance from the collision," New York State Police Major Stephen J. Udice said during a joint press conference. "This is a true tragedy," he added.
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Bedrick is facing multiple charges.
Eli Henrys was the only victim of the car crash who lost his life. Two of the other drivers were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, New York, with non-life threatening injuries. A third driver was uninjured.
Bedrick was given a field sobriety test following the crash, and charged with five counts: aggravated unlicensed operation, operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, aggravated DWI: with a child-passenger less than 16, endangering welfare of a child, and criminal possession of a stimulant.
She is being held in police custody following the crash. The Suffolk County District Attorney and the state Attorney General's Office will be further investigating the crash.
