New, happy photos of the doomed 9-year-old killed by his allegedly drugged-up mom after she caused a horrific wrong-way crash on Long Island belie a dark secret: she experienced “severe” domestic abuse, her former attorney claimed.
The images show Kerri Bedrick cuddling up to a much younger Eli with both beaming into the camera, while a second picture shows the chubby-cheeked child years ago with his father’s family, including three half-siblings and his grandmother.
Authorities said Bedrick, 32, was high on meth when she put the about-to-be fourth grader into the backseat and headed onto the Southern State Parkway the wrong way Thursday.
But attorney Eleanor Gery, who once represented Bedrick on a past case, said there’s more to the Centerport woman’s story.
“There are many twists and turns that will come [in this case],” Gery told The Post Saturday.
Bedrick is “the type of person who gets taken advantage by others…she’s gotten the short end of the stick in many of her dealings in life,” said Gery, who has not yet been hired to rep Bedrick on her current charges.
Gery contends Bedrick was “a victim of severe, severe domestic violence.”
Her ex, Eli’s father, Dean Henrys, had served years in prison, relatives said.
But on Saturday, competing portraits emerged of the embattled family.
On Staten Island, Henry’s other children and current wife Zareen said he and Bedrick battled for years over custody of Eli.
Dean Henrys wasn’t present and the family said he would not speak until after Eli’s funeral, which had yet to be scheduled.
They refused to comment in detail on the domestic violence allegations, except for Zareen, who said only, “He did his time, he did two years.”
They claimed Dean Henrys alerted authorities to Bedrick’s behavior and struggles with drugs, but didn’t provide proof they’d reported the allegations.
“He was literally telling them, ‘She uses drugs, she drinks, I want my son safe,’” Zareen said.
“… He was just afraid of this happening, her harming herself or [Eli]… No one listened to us.”
The family hadn’t seen Eli in four years, they said.
The boy they knew was “always happy. He was really goofy. He would just jump and have random bursts of energy,” recalled Eli’s older half-sister, Aniya Henrys, 20.
“My favorite memory of him was that he had this cardboard rocketship. He would have this imagination.”
Romeo Henrys, 18, said he used to play catch, tag, and play in the pool with his younger half-brother.
“He was just a sweet kid,” he recalled.
Bedrick is being held on $1 million bail on charges of aggravated DWI with a passenger under 16; aggravated driving without a license; criminal possession of a stimulant; operating a vehicle while impaired by drugs and endangering the welfare of a child.
It was revealed at arraignment that cops found more than four grams of pills in Bedrick’s SUV that tested positive for meth — and she admitted taking it before driving with Eli in the backseat, according to a felony criminal complaint.
