Posted on 04/24/2010 12:38:23 PM PDT by bad company
A teenager charged with crashing a van into a house, killing a woman gardening, told police she didn't feel so bad after learning the victim's age.
According to court documents obtained by CBS Radio's 1010WINS, Kayla Gerdes was quoted in a written statement to police saying: "The thing that made me not feel so bad was she was old," she said. "I mean, 70 years is a long time to live."
Then, on a completely separate note, she told police: "I want to see a newspaper or the news to see what I look like."
Gerdes is facing vehicular manslaughter and other charges in the Tuesday crash in Hempstead that killed 69-year-old Rebecca Twine-Wright.
Defense attorney John R. Lewis says his client was devastated when told the woman had been killed. He said Gerdes, who has pleaded not guilty, has an addiction problem.
The stress of the ordeal proved to be more than she could bear after her arrest.
A shattered, weeping Gerdes repeatedly apologized on Wednesday, trying to defend her actions behind the wheel in a crash that killed the retired doctor as she tended her garden.
As she headed to court in cuffs, a hysterical Gerdes apologized over and over for the accident:
"No, I didn't [purposely aim for her.] Listen, stop -- listen, it was an accident! Please leave me, alone it was a mistake! Stop it was a mistake!" the 18-year-old screamed. "No, I was on prescription drugs, it was a mistake! Stop! Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone! It was a mistake! The car -- I'm so sorry! It was a mistake, I didn't mean to do it! Please, leave me alone! Please leave me alone! Please, it was a mistake! OK -- the car went out of control, I was pressing the brake and it wouldn't go! It was a mistake, I'm sorry!"
Police say the teen was high on Xanax and Oxycontin when the construction van she was driving careened off of Cathedral Avenue in Freeport, running over Twine, then barreling into the woman's home. The emotional apology fell on deaf ears from the victim's family.
"If you're truly sorry, if you really mean it, then admit to your guilt, plead guilty, tell the judge you want to serve the maximum penalty available under the law," Chauncey Twine said.
The crash took place after police said Gerdes took over the wheel from her boyfriend because she didn't like how he was driving.
Gerdes' lawyer said the teen has a drug problem and was recently kicked out of a rehab program because insurance wouldn't pay for it. Watching Gerdes on Wednesday was her heartbroken mom.
"I'm very sorry for the family and for this horrible tragedy," Tara Gerdes said.
It's tragedy that has shattered taken away one life and shattered another.
Gerdes is being held on $200,000 bond and is due back in court Friday.
Kayla Gerdes was quoted in a written statement to police saying: “The thing that made me not feel so bad was she was old,” she said. “I mean, 70 years is a long time to live.” Then, on a completely separate note, she told police: “I want to see a newspaper or the news to see what I look like.”
The ‘ME’ generation: A sick, twisted little freak...really, how could a human being be so unfeeling??
Wow, I thought this nit couldn’t get any worse than when she was yelling ‘It was an accident! I was on drugs! I didn’t mean for her to die! LEAVE ME ALONE!” but I suppose “70 years, is (I’m sure a ‘like’ was thrown in for good measure) a long time to live”
Please judge, take this basket case off the street. Either she has been raised to be a hopeless drain on society or is mentally ill. Either way, please keep her away from me and my family.
Cannot tell you how sorry I am for this drugged up morons mother. I’ve seen how this can rip a family to pieces, completely and irrevocably.
Not that hard to imagine in our atheist society. This is an example of the widgets the humanist, socialist factory cranks out.
Gerdes didn’t have a drivers license and was taking oxycodone. Taking prescriptions is no excuse for driving under the influence of drugs. Of course if she had ever taken the courses and tests necessary to get a drivers license, she would have known that.
When (not if) some moronic lawyer gets this person off - please, please, publish when and where she’s going, and where she lives.
I’m sure that some good folks will take care of things.
I’ll give you sick, twisted little freak, but her mother is part of the Me generation. Her generation is as yet unnamed.
Xanax and Oxycontin.
Well, in that case there's good news. She'll be going to a 20 year in-house rehab program to dry out. And the State will be paying for everything.
“The thing that made me not feel so bad was she was old,” she said. “I mean, 70 years is a long time to live.”
She must have read the ObamaCare bill..this fruitcake sounds like someone who would probably vote for Obama for a 2nd term. This nut needs to serve life in the pokey for what she did..what a whack job
This is EXACTLY the mentality they are trying to cultivate in our youth so no one will feel bad when 'health rationing' takes its fatal toll among the elderly...and not so elderly.
How do yo know it’s her parents’ fault? She could be the one bad seed in a good family. It happens.
>>Xanax and Oxycontin.<<
And bad raising.
Man became machine.
Old people can die. This is the message tonyoung people. Cut old people off from healthcare 500 million. They are leaches on the system through social security (never mind they worked 50 years). And they just aren’t that valuable to society.
Sad but it explains the 68 percent Obama voting youth.
The old lady was worth twice as much as this brainless slug.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.