The Long Island mother accused of killing her young son in a wrong-way crash while she was driving high on methamphetamines had her license suspended for the 57th time during her arraignment Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors said.
Suffolk County Judge Richard I. Horowitz ordered the suspension of Kerri Bedrick’s driver’s license until the conclusion of the case and held the 32-year-old in custody without bail after she pleaded not guilty to murder charges during her arraignment.
Bedrick’s license was already suspended on Aug. 22 when she drove the wrong way on the Southern State Parkway around 2:15 a.m. and caused a four-car wreck that killed her 9-year-old son, authorities said.
A deputy sheriff tried to pull over Bedrick when he initially spotted her going the wrong way, but she went faster and drove around the deputy’s vehicle, prosecutors said.
The deputy trailed her for more than five miles in a westbound lane from a safe distance as she reached 100 miles per hour into oncoming traffic in eastbound lanes, prosecutors said.
Bedrick eventually crashed into other cars, including a Mercedes GLS SUV, head-on so severely that her engine launched into the woods, the district attorney’s office said.
Her 9-year-old son, Eli D. Henrys, was found unconscious in the backseat of the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse and later died of his injuries at the hospital.
Authorities later determined the defendant was impaired during her road rampage and found a prescription bottle with the label torn off inside her car following the crash, according to prosecutors.
The motorist allegedly admitted to police to taking methamphetamines around 8 p.m. the night before the deadly collision, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe previously said last month.
On top of the murder charges, she’s facing criminal counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter and other related charges, including an aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle rap.
Bedrick’s license was already suspended 56 times on eight different days leading up to the crash before she was hit with another suspension on Wednesday. A driver can be slapped with multiple suspensions in one day for various reasons, according to state law.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said the slew of charges show “the severe nature” of the incident that he called a “heinous act.”
“The loss of life in this incident, particularly that of a young child, is heartbreaking,” he said in a statement.
Bedrick’s lawyer, Scott Zerner, called the crash “a tragic accident.”
“No one on this planet is more upset about it than she is,” Zerner told The Post.
“She suffers from ailments and has been prescribed the methamphetamine properly by a doctor and she was not under influence of any alcohol or any non-prescription drug that she was not prescribed.”
Zerner declined to comment on the allegation she was driving without a license at the time of the crash.
Bedrick and other two other drivers in the pile-up were treated for injuries.
The mom could spend 25 years to life in prison if she’s found guilty of the top count with her next court date set for Oct. 22.
