One day after he crashed his car near the Capitol, Representative Patrick Kennedy, son of Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, said on Friday he would seek treatment for a long-term drug abuse problem.
WASHINGTON: One day after he crashed his car near the Capitol, Representative Patrick Kennedy, son of Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, said on Friday he would seek treatment for a long-term drug abuse problem.
“This afternoon I am traveling to Minnesota to seek treatment at the Mayo Clinic to insure I can continue on my road to recovery,” Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, told reporters.
Kennedy said he was a patient last winter at the clinic, receiving care for an addiction to prescription pain medicine.
His announcement came shortly after a Capitol Police report showed Kennedy, 38, was charged with three driving violations after he crashed his car into a Capitol Hill security barrier early on Thursday.
Earlier, Kennedy said he had become disoriented because of medicine and sleeping pills. He said he had not consumed alcohol before the incident.
Kennedy said he had been “fighting this chronic disease since I was a young man” and wanted to continue working for his constituents in Rhode Island.
“I need to stay in the fight,” said the six-term Congressman who was re-elected with 64 percent of the vote in 2004.
Kennedy said he had no recollection of the crash. “I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving infractions.”
His father said, “All of us in the family admire his courage in speaking publicly about very personal issues and fully support his decision to seek treatment.”
According to the Capitol Police report, Kennedy's 1997 Ford Mustang was traveling at “a high rate of speed” on a street close to the Capitol and “swerving into the wrong lane” shortly before his car hit a barrier. The police report said Kennedy's “eyes were red and watery, speech was slightly slurred and upon exiting his vehicle, his balance was unsure.”
The Kennedys have been prominent in American politics for decades. Patrick Kennedy's uncles included President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, and Robert Kennedy, a former US attorney general and New York senator, who was assassinated in 1968 during his run for president.
Edward Kennedy, a voice for liberal causes, is one of the longest-serving Senators.
Several family members have had much-publicized drug and alcohol problems.
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