She mowed down a helpless, elderly woman while driving a van high on drugs, but a twisted Long Island teen still claimed to see a bright side to the horrific crash.
“The thing that made me not feel so bad was, she was old,” hellcat Kayla Gerdes, 18, told investigators after she was busted for killing 69-year-old Rebecca Twine Wright as the retired doctor trimmed her lawn Tuesday, a source told The Post.
Gerdes, of Freeport, claimed to once be a model. And she was so self-absorbed in the hours after the wreck that she told cops interviewing her she wants “to see a newspaper of the news, to see what I look like.”
Just moments after the crash on the tree-lined Hempstead block, the teen showed more concern about being late for a court date than she did for the woman whose broken body was crumpled on the ground, according to court documents.
Gerdes, who cops said was high on the powerful painkiller OxyContin, stepped from the wrecked vehicle and demanded that that a passer-by help her get to the courthouse.
“I’m late for court. You have to take me to court!” she exclaimed, according to a criminal complaint. She was due to appear for allegedly stealing her mom’s jewelry, even though she was driving in the opposite direction of the Nassau County courthouse in Mineola.
Her passenger and boss, Brian Steele Jr. — who appeared to be oblivious to the carnage — bellowed at her that she wrecked his car two weeks ago and lamented that “he has to pay for this now.”
He has not been charged.
Gerdes changed her tune as she was hauled off to her arraignment yesterday, uncontrollably wailing to the cameras about the slain gardening enthusiast and mother of two.
“I didn’t mean to do it . . . I’m so sorry, it was a mistake!” she screamed. “The car went out of control and I was pressing the brake and it wouldn’t go!”
During her outburst yesterday, Gerdes also admitted to popping pills.
“I was on prescription drugs. Leave me alone!” she said, sobbing, “I’m sorry” over and over.
Gerdes’ lawyer, John R. Lewis, said her statements to police about Wright didn’t paint the whole picture of how upset his client was after the wreck, which left a gaping hole in the victim’s home.
“She started crying, ‘Oh, my God, is she a mother?’ ” he said.
Gerdes was held in lieu of $200,000 bond on manslaughter charges.
The van she was driving belongs to a roofing company she worked for.
Her boss, Steele, was driving at first, but Gerdes demanded to take the wheel because he wasn’t going fast enough, police said.
“We believe they switched because she was not satisfied with the way he was driving . . . [Steele] wasn’t getting to court quickly enough,” said Detective Sgt. John DeMartinis.
According to the criminal complaint, Gerdes looked unsteady on her feet and showed signs of impairment at the scene of the crash. She seemed to be ranting wildly after the wreck and was heard yelling that the “wheel came off,” according to documents.
Steele’s father said the teen worked as a “bookkeeper” at his son’s roofing firm, even though her pals said she had not yet graduated from Freeport HS.
Steele’s father, Brian Steele Sr., said his son created a job for Gerdes because they were dating.
“Because he wanted to [sleep with] her, he offered her a job,” the elder Steele said.
Jamie Lee, 19, a friend of Gerdes, said the “whole situation” surrounding the $20-an-hour job “was weird.”
The younger Steele could not be reached for comment.
Prosecutors said Gerdes was arrested in February on drug charges in Florida. Sources said she had two open drug cases in Nassau County.
Her lawyer, Lewis, said that the night before the crash, she was arrested for shoplifting.
Lewis said that although she was heading in the wrong direction for court, she was going to pick up her mother so they could attend the hearing together.
At one point, she gave her mom a call to say she was on the way. Lewis said that Steele Jr. got on the phone and said: “Don’t worry about it. I won’t let her drive.”
After the hearing, Lewis said that Gerdes had been in rehab and was trying to fight her drug addiction.
“I do know she was under the care of a doctor and she did have prescriptions,” he said.
Police, however, could find no evidence of a prescription for OxyContin.
Her mom, Tara, said: “I’m very sorry for [Wright’s] family after this terrible tragedy.”
Neighbors at of the waterfront home where Gerdes lives with her mother and the mom’s boyfriend said she was known for knocking on people’s doors to bum cigarettes and asking to borrow neighbors’ cars.
“You could just see it on her face that she had big problems,” a neighbor said. “Her mother has tried to put her into rehab, but it doesn’t work.”
Steele Sr. said that he asked his son why he would want the troubled girl in his life. Junior said that after the wreck, Gerdes “showed no remorse.”
“I asked my son, ‘Didn’t she even try to stop?’ He said, ‘She’s cold as ice,’ ” Steele Sr. said.
After the hearing, Wright’s son, Chauncey Twine, called on the 18-year-old to confess. He also questioned why Steele let her drive. “I know the girl was intoxicated, but I still don’t understand how a guy could give his keys to someone who is intoxicated to drive his car,” he said. “It seems to me he should have some culpability.”
Twine remembered his mom as “really the kindest person you’ll ever meet.” She was an intellectual who held a Ph.D. in zoology in addition to her medical degree.
“It’s just a total shock,” Twine said. “I can’t even put words to the pain that my family is going through.”
He also scoffed at Gerdes’ plea for forgiveness.
“To say you’re sorry? Words are cheap,” he said. “If you’re truly sorry for what you did, then admit to your guilt.”