Ambien, Seizure Investigated in Kerry Kennedy Car Accident
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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In yet another instance of a member of America’s most famous political family getting in trouble with the law, Kerry Kennedy has apparently admitted that she took the sleep aid Ambien before colliding with a tractor trailer in upstate New York last Friday.
Kennedy, the 52-year-old daughter of the late New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy and former wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was found unconscious behind the wheel of her Lexus after police said she left the scene of an accident.
Initially, a publicist for Kennedy said that she voluntarily took a breathalyzer, blood and urine tests – all of which showed no drugs or alcohol whatsoever in her system. Police are awaiting for the results of their own tests.
However, Kennedy contradicted that statement by telling police that she was under the influence of an Ambien that she took the morning of the alleged incident. She is due in court Tuesday to answer to the DUI arrest.
Meanwhile, The New York Post reported late Sunday that Kennedy might have actually suffered a seizure while driving and in her confused state, wrongly stated to cops that she took Ambien.
Kennedy recently suffered the loss of her sister-in-law Mary Richardson Kennedy, who hung herself in her Bedford, New York home. Kennedy lives in the same town.
In 2006, Kennedy’s cousin, former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, admitted to have used Ambien prior to crashing his vehicle into a security barricade near the U.S. Capitol. He also said that Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication, made him appear disoriented.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio