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.
I generally drink a couple glasses of red wine nightly as "sleep medicine". So, I'm no different than a Kennedy...
Why insult yourself? LOL
Do you prefer the Clinton way? He didn't even own a house anywhere.
President Bush only lived in Conn while his father was in graduate school. They lived in grad school housing, not usually deluxe, especially back then. After moving to Texas, W attended neighborhood public schools for elementary school. His ancestral family had money, but he lived a very middle class life as a kid.
I'm glad you think that Gore being raised on a "farm in Tennessee" is very disingenuous. He was raised in a very upscale high rise apartment in DC., attending the priciest of private schools the entire time. Little League in (at the time) dusty Midland TX was probably much more fun.
Can someone smarter and more knowlegable of DC geography figure this one out for me...
The police report of this incident is now up on http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0505062kennedy1.html
I can find the location of the Hawk & Dove bar and the Capitol building and also where I believe the indident occurred. What I can't figure out from the report is where Kennedy resides while in DC and whether he was in the right place and heading in the right direction to be travelling from his residence to the Capitol as he claims.
He seemed to be very near to the bar he was allegedly drinking at...would he be travelling west to get from his residence to the Capitol or west to be returning to his residence from said bar?
Also - does sleep driving also involve sleep dressing or was he in pajamas? The Pajama media need some answers!
"Late for a vote" HA! At one time I lived in California. They had 24-hour gun clubs out there. The reason was that if you were ever pulled over, and the police found the gun in your car, your could always say that you were "on your way to the gun club."
Same difference, dontcha think?
I thought Ted was his dad?
Sleep-driving...
If it was a Republican, Pelosi would be shouting "culture of intoxication!".
I'm imagining a conversation like this:
"Uh, excuse me for wakening you at this hour, Senator, but this is Commander X in precinct Y; I thought you should know that we're holding your son at the scene of a traffic accident. He wasn't injured, but he seems to be, well, not at his best..."
"What's that, Senator?"
"Oh, my; can you really do that?"
"Yes sir. Right away, sir."
(hangs up phone)
"OK, guys, you're REALLY not gonna like this, but..."
---
I think it's clear somebody leaned on the officers to do what they did; that's why the story got immediately released. They were pissed. Imagine how the guy that watched Patches plow into the barrier must have felt when somebody told him to cover up?
Do we know how much time elapsed between the accident and when he was driven home?
I didn't know they had Ambien hour at the Hawk and Dove.
They don't.
They only provide the Phenergan; you have to bring your own Ambien.
Seems that if he says he wasnt drinking and this lady says he was that he will have to step down...
Where exactly was he from 9 pm to 3 am? Seems this is open and shut. Hes gone. One less liberal in our pockets.
I do think we're going to learn more about this; the speed with which the police broadcasted the info shows that there are people in the know who feel covering this up isn't right, and don't intend for this cover up to succeed.
My question is, did the decision to give Patches a pass come from some officer in command who made a poor decision on the spur of the moment, or from somebody outside the police?
If that's the case, I think we actually have a good chance of it coming out.
The question is will he lie at the press conference? This is gonna be good.
Will his lips move?
So funny!
"I didn't know they had Ambien hour at the Hawk and Dove."
They don't.
They only provide the Phenergan; you have to bring your own Ambien.
LOL. Kennedy must have brought his in a nice brown paper bag.
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