Former Yankee Jim Leyritz says victim was at fault in fatal crash

BY RICH SCHAPIRO AND JANA WINTER
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Rothstein for News

Former Yankees catcher Jim Leyritz

Fallen Yankee hero Jim Leyritz, speaking for the first time after the DUI accident that killed a Florida mother, said he has had trouble hiding his pain from his children ever since the crash.

"I can't tell you how many times that I put them to bed and I walk outside so they didn't see me break down and cry," Leyritz, 44, said in an emotional interview with the Daily News.

Leyritz, his eyes red and watery as he recalled the moments following the fatal accident, remembered feeling lost and in shock.

"I know I'm going to jail, but I just don't know how long I'm going to be there," Leyritz recalled. "I'm just lost."

In jail, "I talked to my ex-fiancée... crying and just saying, 'I don't know what I'm going to do. This is not me. I don't know what to do. This is just horrible.' And knowing that somebody died in the accident..." Leyritz added, his words trailing off.

Leyritz's once-charmed life changed forever the night of Dec. 28, 2007.

After celebrating his 44th birthday with pals at a Fort Lauderdale bar, Leyritz hopped into his Ford Expedition SUV with a friend to bring him home.

Prosecutors say Leyritz was sloshed when he ran a red light and crashed into a Mitsubishi Montero, killing its driver, Fredia Ann Veitch, 30. Cops arrested the former Yankee slugger on DUI manslaughter charges after he was given three field sobriety tests. His blood-alcohol level was later determined to be 0.14, nearly twice the state's legal limit of 0.08. His trial is set for Jan. 12.

Leyritz said it was Veitch - who was found also to be drunk at the time of the crash - who caused the horrific accident. Records show she had also caused a drunken driving accident six months before.

"My light was never red when I entered the intersection," he said. "I was not at all responsible for the accident or her death."

"She went through the light. She hit me."

For weeks after the crash, Leyritz couldn't sleep, he said. Even after doctors prescribed sleeping pills, he was still haunted by images of the unconscious Veitch lying on the pavement.

"I'd never seen anybody up-close unconscious like that, that actually passed away," Leyritz said.

Leyritz then covered his face with his left hand - bearing his 1996 World Series Championship ring.

"Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face," Leyritz said.

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