Kayla Gerdes, an 18-year-old Freeport woman, was ordered held on $200,000 bond after pleading not guilty to vehicular manslaughter and other charges in a crash that killed a 69-year-old woman in front of her Hempstead home.
Police say Gerdes was high on oxycodone when she crashed the commercial van she was driving into the homeowner who was gardening in her front yard. Gerdes was arraigned Wednesday in Nassau County District Court.
Defense attorney John R. Lewis says his client was headed to court on Tuesday to face grand larceny charges for stealing jewelry from her mother when the crash occurred.
Lewis says Gerdes was devastated when told that Rebecca Twine-Wright had been killed. He said Gerdes has an addiction problem and was enrolled in a rehabilitation program.
With Associated Press