Kerry Kennedy Pleads Not Guilty, Says Seizure Caused Erratic Driving
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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Kerry Kennedy pleaded not guilty Tuesday to driving under the influence of drugs, and said that a seizure caused the erratic driving that led to a collision with a tractor-trailer last week.
Kennedy, a human rights activist and the daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was seen driving erratically in Westchester, N.Y., Friday before she collided with the truck. She allegedly continued driving and was later found slumped over the wheel of her car, reportedly unable to remember what had happened.
In the wake of the accident, Kennedy, 52, said to police she might have taken the prescription drug Ambien, sources said. Kennedy was arrested and charged with driving while impaired.
Rocco Scuitello, the driver of the truck that Kennedy hit, told the New York Post Tuesday, “My first impression was that she was really, really drunk, half asleep or very, very intoxicated. She’s very lucky she didn’t kill somebody.”
“When she hit me, my left tire tore up her passenger-side door, and the lug nuts on my truck tore up her tire, just shredded through it and peeled the tire right off,” Scuitello said.
“She woke up a little bit, not a lot, not the way you’d wake up if you’d just hit a 6,000-pound truck. The only thing she wanted to do then was get away, because she floored it and took off.”
Kerry Kennedy’s family said in a statement released to ABC News that there were no drugs involved.
The results of Kennedy’s toxicology tests are pending.
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