Teen charged with killing mom during seizure

A 19-year-old having a seizure attacked his mother, beating her to death while begging her not to die, prosecutors and his lawyer said.

Henry Wachtel was remanded to jail without bail on a murder charge Wednesday.

The day before, schoolteacher Karyn Kay, 63, called 911 to say her son was having a seizure. Prosecutors claim Wachtel then attacked her. The emergency operator heard grunting and wails from the woman and screams from the son, court papers said.

"Mommy, Mommy, please don't die," Wachtel shrieked, according to court papers.

Wachtel, a Fordham University freshman, has epilepsy, and his lawyer said he also had been on several medications.

"Sometimes there are unforeseen consequences to medication" for epileptics, the lawyer, Lloyd Epstein, said.

Police found Wachtel covered in blood, prosecutors said. His mother was unconscious, in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. She had a fractured skull, broken ribs and internal bleeding. Kay was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Wachtel told detectives it was a mistake, court papers said.

Kay was a writing teacher at LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts. She was listed as a visiting instructor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.