LEWISTON – An admission by Kyle Karkos to emergency room workers that he had been drag racing when the passenger in his car was killed can’t be used against him by prosecutors at the teen’s manslaughter trial, a judge has ruled.

Karkos, 18, of Auburn had gone to 8th District Court last month hoping to persuade a judge to classify those statements as privileged between a doctor and his patient.

Judge Paul A. Cote agreed.

But Cote also ruled last week that prosecutors may use statements made by Karkos at the hospital to rebut evidence offered by his attorneys at trial.

While waiting for a blood drawing from Karkos, a local police officer overheard the then-17-year-old tell emergency room workers that he had been drag racing and that he wasn’t going to lose the race. He said he had gone through a couple of traffic lights and lost control of his car, which hit a pole.

Because of bits of glass lodged in his eyes, Karkos apparently didn’t recognize officer Kristopher Murphy was in the room, Cote wrote in his ruling.

Cote said the statements offered by Karkos were likely answers to questions posed by the medical workers attending to him in the hospital. They were made in confidence for the “purpose of diagnosis or treatment of the juvenile’s physical condition,” Cote wrote. For that reason, they’re confidential because they fall under the physician-patient privilege.

In addition to the glass in his eyes, Karkos also suffered broken bones in his arm, a chipped vertebra in his back, and “whiplash” injuries stemming from the April 5, 2006, accident, Cote wrote.

The Canal Street crash killed Kenny Jellison Jr., 18, of Auburn at the scene.

At a July 30 hearing, Karkos, his mother, Kelley and officer Murphy testified in court.

Karkos was charged in December with manslaughter, reckless conduct and driving to endanger. All three counts are felonies.

He is being tried as a juvenile because he was 17 at the time of the crash. If convicted and sentenced to incarceration, he would serve that sentence at a juvenile facility only up to his 21st birthday.

An October trial is scheduled.