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Kennedy Blames Accident on Sleep Medicine
AP ^
| 5/4/06
| ANDREW MIGA
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.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: District of Columbia; US: Rhode Island
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To: cripplecreek
old ZZ TOP (pre Eliminator) is good music, period :)
601
posted on
05/05/2006 1:05:23 PM PDT
by
fhlh
(Polls are for Strippers.)
To: george76
ROFLMAO -- That photo is hilarious in light of the thread topic.
602
posted on
05/05/2006 1:06:42 PM PDT
by
girlangler
(I'd rather be fishing)
To: JeanS
I'm a drug addict because of the drugs! If only Rush had thought of that one...
603
posted on
05/05/2006 1:08:16 PM PDT
by
veronica
("A person needs a sense of mission like the air he breathes...")
To: girlangler
Thanks.
They both are asleep.
Senator Sheets sleeping sitting and Harry sleep walking.
604
posted on
05/05/2006 1:23:02 PM PDT
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: george76
So Cheney shoots someone and the Drive By Media has an orgasm trying to find out if Cheney was drinking.
This bozo is loaded to the gills and not even a breathalizer and now the media will feel sorry for him because of his dependence on gastroenteritis drugs.
605
posted on
05/05/2006 1:38:56 PM PDT
by
EQAndyBuzz
(Democrats = The Culture of Treason)
To: madison10
606
posted on
05/05/2006 1:39:16 PM PDT
by
astounded
(We don't need no stinkin' rules of engagement...)
To: EQAndyBuzz
The two losers.
607
posted on
05/05/2006 1:57:38 PM PDT
by
george76
(Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
To: JeanS
608
posted on
05/05/2006 2:29:21 PM PDT
by
doug from upland
(Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
To: danamco
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON!!!
Nothing new here, just move on!
It is just the way he was raised by his "role-model" of a
father who escaped the Chappaquiddick murder!!
What else should we expect???
Hmmmm!!!
Wow, you are a miserable hypocrite. You just spent the last week defending and pleading forgiveness for Rush and now you cant wait to pile on Patches.
That's what I meant by intellectual honesty, you got your Dittohead kneepads now.
To: JeanS
depression...pills...ambien...pressure...ignorance...not enough counseling...not enough help...not my fault...didn't mean to...i was unaware...don't remember...the Kennedy legacy.
610
posted on
05/05/2006 3:04:04 PM PDT
by
eleni121
('Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!' (Julian the Apostate))
To: JeanS
It's still his fault for operating under the influence.
Med's will have instructions telling you not to operate machinery until you know how the drug effects you.
To: JeanS
Everyone is just talking about Kennedy here. The watch commander who made Kennedy's problem go away should have criminal charges filed against him as well. Don't let a dirty cop off the hook.
612
posted on
05/05/2006 4:07:02 PM PDT
by
Revel
To: Mr. Mojo
He was staggering and the cops didn't test him? The cops were prevented from testing him.
613
posted on
05/05/2006 4:12:09 PM PDT
by
pray4liberty
(School District horrors: http://totallyunjust.tripod.com)
Comment #614 Removed by Moderator
To: george76; EQAndyBuzz; billhilly; proud_yank; Diana in Wisconsin; SJackson; elkfersupper
"So Cheney shoots someone and the Drive By Media has an orgasm trying to find out if Cheney was drinking. This bozo is loaded to the gills and not even a breathalizer and now the media will feel sorry for him because of his dependence on gastroenteritis drugs."
I'm going to have to stop visiting FreeRepublic. I have permanent laugh lines from laughing so hard at some of the comments and pictures.
Heck, FR is better than the Comedy Channel.
615
posted on
05/05/2006 6:34:49 PM PDT
by
girlangler
(I'd rather be fishing)
To: JeanS
616
posted on
05/05/2006 7:50:49 PM PDT
by
Mojave
To: JeanS
We had a young man who boarded with us for quite some time and he took "sleeping medicine" too. It was in a bottle of brandy. Suspect Patrick's meds might be in the same sort of container.
To: don'tspeak4me
LOL! I think I've finally heard it all. Ambien my ass.No, that's where phernegan goes. Ambien is prescribed per oro.
To: pray4liberty
The cops were prevented from testing him.By other cops.
To: Howlin
Why didn't he say this in his FIRST STATEMENT?Patches has a total inconsistency in one of his statements.
He remembers "Nossing, Noossing" about getting out of bed or receiving three citations or anything at all relating to the Ambien Sleep Driving incident.
Yet he remembers clearly that he made no request to the police to drive him home or for any other favors there at the scene of the Sleep Driving caper.
His defense attorney is gonna have a hard time, if Patches is ever brought to the bar of justice. But he will have one great asset: Daddy Ted.
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