Police: NY teen on drugs and on way to court crashes into house, kills gardening homeowner

NY cops: Teen on way to court runs down gardener

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — A New York teenager has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter after a crash that killed a 69-year-old woman gardening in her front yard.

Police say 18-year-old Kayla Gerdes was high on painkillers when she crashed a van into a house in Hempstead, on Long Island. She was arraigned Wednesday in Nassau County District Court and ordered held on $200,000 bond.

Defense attorney John R. Lewis says his client was headed to court Tuesday on a grand larceny charge of stealing jewelry from her mother when the crash occurred.

The lawyer says Gerdes was devastated when told that Rebecca Twine-Wright had been killed. He says Gerdes has an addiction problem and is in rehab.

Information from: Newsday, www.newsday.com