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"PrivilegedKennedy" <Drunkdemocrat@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:0oN6g.36401$MM6.17653@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
Pat cites pills in car wreck
By Dave Wedge
Friday, May 5, 2006 - Updated: 01:05 AM EST
WASHINGTON -U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy insisted yesterday that he had
consumed "no alcohol" before he slammed his Mustang convertible into a
concrete barrier near his office, but a hostess at a popular Capitol Hill
watering hole told the Herald she saw him drinking in the hours before the
crash.
"He was drinking a little bit," said the woman, who works at the Hawk
&
Dove and would not give her name.
Leaving his office late last night, Kennedy refused to say whether
he'd
been to the Hawk & Dove the night before.
Earlier in the evening, Kennedy issued a statement through his office
blaming the accident and strange behavior surrounding it on prescription
drugs.
He said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening
after
House votes and took "prescribed" amounts of Phenergan and Ambien.
Phenergan is for gastroenteritis, he said. Ambien is a popular sleep
medication.
"Sometime 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."
Questions arose surrounding the wreck amid police reports that Kennedy
was "staggering" and appeared intoxicated after nearly hitting a Capitol
Police cruiser and then striking the barrier.
The incident became public when the union representing Capitol Police
alleged in a publicly released letter that superior officers prevented
rank-and-file cops from properly investigating the crash.
The letter from the cops union said police spotted Kennedy's Mustang
swerving with its lights off. The car narrowly missed a cruiser before
slamming into a security barricade, according to the letter written by
officer Chris Baird, chairman of the department's union.
The driver exited the vehicle and he was observed to be staggering,
Baird's letter states. The letter also said that Kennedy claimed he
was"late
to a vote." The last House vote was taken nearly six hours earlier.
Patrolmen's union president Lou Cannon told the Associated Press that
officers were fuming that police brass intervened and blocked attempts to
give Kennedy sobriety tests. "The officers just want to be able to do
their
jobs," Cannon said.
Leaving his Capitol Hill office last night, Kennedy told reporters: "I
asked for no special treatment."
After Kennedy responded to the swelling scandal with his first letter,
a
Herald reporter visisted bars where Kennedy is known to socialize.
A bartender at the Tune Inn, which is next to the Hawk & Dove, also
said
Kennedy was spotted in the Hawk & Dove Wednesday.
Hawk & Dove manager Edgar Gutierrez said Kennedy is a regular in the
bar. Gutierrez said he was working Wednesday night but did not see the
congressman.
Kennedy, who has battled booze and drug problems in the past, said in
his first statement: "I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in
whatever investigation they choose to undertake."
Despite the wreck, Kennedy took part in normal business at the Capitol
yesterday and appeared unshaken by the incident as he chatted with other
members. But one Rhode Island political insider said there has been talk
of
Kennedy's bizarre behavior of late.
"He has looked terrible lately," the source said. "He's been acting
goofy, kind of zany."
In addition to seeking substance abuse treatment as a teen, Kennedy
has
acknowledged being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
A spokeswoman for Kennedy's father, U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, said
the senior Massachusetts senator would have no comment on the matter.
.
