http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Leyritz charged with DUI homicide

NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Jim Leyritz, a hero for the Yankees in the 1996 World Series, is in jail and has been charged with a DUI homicide after a Friday morning crash in Fort Lauderdale, the Miami Herald is reporting.

Leyritz was charged with two counts of drunken driving, including DUI that causes death to a human. Records show he has not posted the $11,000 bond as of Friday afternoon, the paper reported.

WPLG-ABC 10 reported a passenger in the car Leyritz allegedly hit was ejected from the car and died at the scene. The former baseball pro refused a sobriety test, the station reported, citing police.

Leyritz, 44, played catcher and first base during a 10-year career for the New York Yankees, Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. In the 1996 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Yankees, he hit a three-run home run that helped turn the series in favor of the Yankees, who eventually won in six games.

This is clearly a response to the Mitchell Report, he's taking one for the Yankees organization by making the Clemens/Pettitte/Knoblauch championship teams look wholesome by comparison.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseb ... tz_-2.html

Family of woman who died in Jim Leyritz car crash tries to cope with loss



The young son of a Florida woman who cops say was killed by ex-Yankee Jim Leyritz in a car crash went to bed with tears in his eyes after his father broke the horrible news to him.

"I have a 5-year-old who cried himself to sleep last night," distraught dad Jordan Veitch, 29, said of his son, Julian. "He has a lot of questions."

"He asked me why Mommy wasn't going to come home; why Mommy was in the grass and who's going to take care of him," the unshaven and teary-eyed father said yesterday on the doorstep of his suburban Fort Lauderdale home. "She was a good mother and a great wife."

As the family of Fredia Ann Veitch, 30, reeled with grief, new details emerged about Leyritz's partying with a Playboy model in the hours before the tragedy early Friday.

Leyritz refused to answer questions about the accident last night, staying behind closed doors at the home of his ex-wife, Kerrie, in Davie, Fla.

Curvy blond pinup Erica Chevillar told the Daily News she was downing Grey Goose vodka with the 1996 World Series hero at a Fort Lauderdale party to celebrate his 44th birthday.

An hour later, he blew a red light and smashed his SUV into Veitch's car with such force she was thrown out of the driver's seat to her death, police said.

In a bizarre twist, a former co-worker said Veitch, a bar waitress, likely served Leyritz at one of his favorite Fort Lauderdale watering holes.

"He definitely knew her," said a bartender named Jillian at the Crazy 8s sports bar in Fort Lauderdale.

Cops said Leyritz was stinking drunk with red, watery eyes. He flunked several sobriety tests and refused to voluntarily submit to a Breathalyzer or blood test. After he was booked on a manslaughter charge and released on $11,000 bail, Leyritz went into seclusion.

Veitch's husband seemed shellshocked Saturday - and recalled talking to his wife a few minutes before the crash. "She said she'd be home in 15 minutes," he said.

He condemned Leyritz for allegedly drinking and driving.

"I'm upset that I lost my wife and he's out of jail in nine hours," said Jordan Veitch, flanked by his lawyer and the father of his wife's older daughter. "I have to explain to my son why he doesn't have a mother."

Chevillar, who bared all in the March issue of Playboy, claimed Leyritz wasn't trashed when she left Automatic Slim's saloon with friends an hour before the crash. "We were just sitting around drinking. He was fine when I left," she said.

Asked whether he might have been "buzzed" after the vodka, she added, "I am sure."

Chevillar said Leyritz's bash, which began at a bar called Blue Martini before moving to Automatic Slim's, was a low-key party with a half-dozen sexy pals. "He's just the happiest, nicest guy in the world; all he talked about was his kids," she said. "It wasn't a crazy night at all."

A bartender at the Blue Martini confirmed Leyritz had been in the place with two women. "He came in and had a few [mixed] drinks. I think he had two," said the bartender, who would only give his name as Ray.

Ray said he has served Leyritz before, adding, "He doesn't get plastered. He'll have a few drinks and switch to water."

Fredia Ann Veitch left behind two children - Julian and Kayla, 13, whom she had during the previous relationship.

Leyritz's neighbors called him a devoted dad who spends hours tossing baseballs with his kids outside his ranch home less than 20 minutes from the Veitch house. Leyritz, who hit a game-saving homer in the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves, faces 15 years in prison if convicted of driving under the influence and manslaughter.

15 years? that's it? jesus h.

so he went from hanging out with this girl to hanging out in jail

fuck. i always liked leyritz. he had a crazy batting stance that i would copy in little leagues sometimes.


those poor kids with no mother now. so fucked up.

i'd change the title to jim leyritz is a murderer

harsh.

he drank and choose to drive and killed a women with his car. i'd say that's murder and i'm gonna guess that he'll go to jail on the manslaughter charge. yeah, that's harsh, but it's also pretty harsh to that husband and kids who lost a mom.

If I were Leyritz, I'd probably just kill myself after reading that.