Carmen Huertas, the mother at the center of the now infamous New York DUI crash that involved seven young girls, has pleaded not guilty to the charges she is facing.
Huertas is facing a total of 14 charges, including one count of manslaughter for the death of an 11-year-old girl who was a passenger in her vehicle when the crash occurred.
On the day of the incident, the group was en route from a party in Chelsea to a sleepover in the Bronx when Huertas lost control of the station wagon she was driving.
Several members of Huertas’ family were present for her arraignment in the New York state Supreme Court. Huertas herself was not in attendance as she is being held at Elmhurst Hospital. According to officials, she remains there due to being considered a threat to herself and she needs to remain on suicide watch.
Huertas’ bond has been set at $250,000, which her family is not expecting to be able to pay anytime soon, meaning that she will continue to be detained until December 1, her next scheduled appearance in court.
If Huertas is convicted, she faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. After the crash, her blood-alcohol content registered well above the legal limit of 0.08. The girls in the vehicle at the time of the crash have served as witnesses against her, in addition to several adult members of the part she had just left.
One of the men at said party may face charges as well if it can be proven that he knew Huertas was intoxicated. According to some reports, the father of one of Huertas’ children removed the child from the car because he believed she was too drunk to drive.
