Kerri A. Bedrick, of Centerport, indicted in wrong-way crash that killed son, Eli, prosecutor says

A Suffolk County grand jury voted this week to indict the alleged wrong-way, drugged-driving Centerport mother whose 9-year-old son died in a head-on crash on the Southern State Parkway, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The new charges against driver Kerri A. Bedrick, 32, whose license the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said had been suspended 56 times, are not expected to be unsealed until next week when she is due back in court.

Last week, prosecutor Laura Newcombe told the judge the district attorney’s office would be seeking homicide charges.

Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney James McCormack declined on Tuesday to say what new charges were added.

Bedrick did not appear at the hearing, but her lawyer, Scott Zerner, told Newsday that she was overwrought about the death of her son, Eli D. Henrys.

"She’s very upset about the death of her 9-year-old son," he said after the hearing.

Bedrick was arraigned Friday and pleaded not guilty to methamphetamine possession, aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, driving while impaired by drugs, felony aggravated DWI with a child under 16, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Eli died in the back seat of her 2022 Mitsubishi SUV after she allegedly sped west in the eastbound lanes of the parkway near Carleton Avenue in Islip, causing a four-car collision, according to authorities.

A Suffolk deputy sheriff assigned to DWI enforcement spotted her just after 2 a.m. and gave chase, officials said. At one point, according to prosecutors, the officer was also driving the wrong way on the Southern State, trying to pull her over to the shoulder when he had to stop because of oncoming traffic.

Bedrick raced off, Suffolk County Deputy Undersheriff John Becker said, with the deputy trying to catch up.

Moments after he lost sight of Bedrick, the officer came upon a four-car crash in which the Mitsubishi SUV had glanced off one car, which hit a pickup truck, and then slammed directly into an oncoming Mercedes-Benz.

Two other drivers were injured. When the officers and other emergency responders got to the wreckage, Bedrick was standing outside the car asking them to help her son, officials said.

First responders tried to revive the boy, but he died shortly after at South Shore University Hospital.

Police found a plastic Ziploc bag with 4.4 ounces of the powerful stimulant methamphetamine in the car, which she told them were prescription drugs, according to her criminal complaint.

Officers at the scene said she showed signs of drug intoxication, like watery eyes, slurred speech and impaired motor skills.

She could not tell authorities when she took the drugs or where she was headed.

"I honestly don’t know," she said when asked where she was coming from and where she was going, according to court records.

Zerner said his client suffered from a number of medical conditions, including spina bifida and narcolepsy, which he said would be a factor in his defense.

In addition to the charges stemming from last week's crash, Bedrick has eight open cases from the fall through March for driving without a license or car insurance in an unregistered vehicle, the same car involved in the crash, records obtained by Newsday show.