Kerry Kennedy Blames Seizure for Wreck

Truck driver says she tried to flee scene, but tire popped
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2012 12:04 AM CDT
Updated Jul 18, 2012 1:02 AM CDT
Kerry Kennedy Blames Seizure for Wreck
Kerry Kennedy tells reporters yesterday that a problem with her brain caused a car crash. She pleaded not guilty to charges that she was driving while impaired by drugs.   (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Kerry Kennedy may have appeared to be high on drugs when she was busted last week after crashing her Lexus into a tractor-trailer rig, but she was actually suffering a "partial seizure," she has explained to a judge. Kennedy, daughter of Bobby Kennedy and ex-wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, failed a number of field sobriety tests following the Westchester highway wreck, according to local cops. She was found slumped over the steering wheel, was unable to stand on one leg, slurred her words, and had difficulty following instructions to walk and turn, according to a police report. She told officers at the time that she may have mixed up the sedative Ambien with thyroid medication. But yesterday, the 52-year-old mom of three explained outside court that docs told her a "problem" with her brain caused by an undisclosed old injury triggered a "complex partial seizure" and caused her to drive erratically and pass out, reports AP. She made the statement after pleading not guilty to charges that she was driving while impaired by drugs.

Results from blood tests are pending. She said after treatment she should be "symptom free." The driver of the truck Kennedy plowed into said he spotted her swerving and drifting into his lane. He honked his horn, but she was "unresponsive" and appeared to be "nodding off," he told the New York Daily News. She revived, slightly, after she slammed into his truck, and tried to flee the scene, he said. "She didn't realize the lug nuts from my tractor tore off her right front tire. She didn't get more than 25 feet before her tire blew," he explained. (More Kerry Kennedy stories.)

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