Posted on 05/04/2006 7:06:03 PM PDT by Jean S
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness.
Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said: "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."'
Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis.
Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes in Congress and took "prescribed" amounts of Phenergan and Ambien, another prescribed drug that he occasionally takes to fall asleep.
"Some time around 2:45 a.m., I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote," his second statement said. "Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication."
Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed his Ford Mustand into a barrier on Capitol Hill early Thursday morning, said Louis P. Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Cannon, who was not there, said the officers involved in the accident were instructed by an official "above the rank of patrolman" to take Kennedy home.
No sobriety tests were conducted at the scene.
A letter written by a Capitol Police officer to Acting Chief Christopher McGaffin said Kennedy appeared to be staggering when he left the vehicle after the crash about 3 a.m. The letter was first reported by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
Kennedy said he was late for a vote, officer Greg Baird said in the letter to McGaffin. Baird is acting chairman of the Capitol Hill chapter of the FOP police union. The last vote of the night had occurred almost six hours earlier.
Kennedy said he was driven home by Capitol police.
"At no time did I ask for any special consideration," he said. "I simply complied with what the officers asked me to do."
Kennedy, the son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., and his staff declined to discuss any further details of the accident. The congressman took part in House votes Thursday.
Capitol Police did not immediately return phone calls for comment. They issued a one-line statement saying they were investigating a traffic violation that occurred early in the morning at that location.
Baird wrote McGaffin that two sergeants who responded to the accident conferred with the watch commander and were ordered to leave the scene.
He said that after the officers left, Capitol Police officials gave Kennedy a ride home.
Kennedy spent time at a drug rehabilitation clinic before he went to Providence College. He has been open about mental health issues, including being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
___
Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.
Of course it was the sleep medicine's fault. Nothing a Kennedy does is ever their fault now is it? Maybe he's going to tell us that we need a government study to study sleep medicines since this must be a grave problem to this country.
"Cannon acknowledged, however, that there are special rules that allow for special treatment of congressional representatives who are on their way to a vote, which apparently was one of Kennedy's claims."
"Cannon also said that while he had heard from officers that Kennedy has smelled of alcohol, he was not there, and had not seen the official report yet. He said, however, that from other visual signs Kennedy showed, officers could have followed up with a number of field sobriety tests."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194329,00.html
He smelled of alcohol. And no wonder he said he was going to vote...
Ambien does wear off, especially if the body has built up some tolerance of the medication. I recently went off Ambien and started on Lunesta. Lunesta doesn't make you feel weird or have amnesia like Ambien, and keeps me sleeping all night. Only drawback is the cost.
HAAAA!
Rep. Patrick Kennedy to Hold News Conference at 3 P.M. 5/05/06 (Live Thread)
Friday, May 5, 2006 | Kristinn
I figure anyone who argues that GW Bush isn't a Texan falls into the same category.
At the very least, they are uneducated.....
Did I hear Shep Smith just say that Patches is going to enter rehab? Again???
The Kennedy Prayer:
Our Lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink.
Thy will be drunk,
I will be drunk,
At home as it is in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
and forgive us our spillages,
as we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not to incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers.
For Thine is the beer, the bitter, THE lager.
Barman.
Yep!
Right. Patrick or his lawyers saw the samw TV special I saw on Ambien and its weird side effects.
One woman got up at 3 a.m., went to the kitchen, and cooked bacon and eggs. Her husband woke her up; she said, "I don't even LIKE bacon and eggs."
Then there were other incidents, of sleepwalking outside the home and far away, etc.
Watch--this will soon appear as a defense for murder or manslaughter. Ambien-induced sleep-killing.
Oh--and the other weird effect was super-sex with the Ambien-taking partner, who did things and said things during sex that they had never ever done before. The husband of this woman was liking it! And looking forward to their next "Ambien Date."
LOL.
HeHe.
Never realized just how much like my family the Kennedys are.
The first pic you posted --making sleep medicine -- my grandpa made that, and my Daddy ran it, often with the law in hot pursuit.
And my dear sweet Granny always kept a bottle of that "medicine" in her cabinet, for medicinal purposes of course.
I have a problem... if he had unipolar (or Bipolar II,not as much acting out... mostly depression and sleeplessness), he wouldn't even be given these two drugs together... Ambien alone has been pulled for treatment of bipolar (knowing some doctors... they still may have given it). Also, was this the cause of his accident two weeks ago in Rhode Island also?
His daddy is a powerful and effective legislator, who has had victory after victory in his efforts to destroy the United States.
From 1963-2006, that's FORTY-THREE YEARS, there has been no more efficient or effective destroyer of our people, our liberties, or our religion, than the senior Senator from Massachusetts.
Say what you will, he's far from a joke.
Patches, OTOH - he IS a joke, and nothing but.
The argument isn't whether or not W is Texan. So he is, OK, I'm misinformed. What about the Kennedys representing so many states? Rockefeller clan is from West Virginia? W's brother? Is he Floridian? His dad? Is he Connecticutian, or Texan, or like most everyone in that swamp, DCian? Your or mine congresscritter? If typical, he was maybe born here, spent 15 years in DC as an aide to his predecessor, and then came back for 6 months to run for election here. Magic Carpet Ride, as I said.
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