Camelot's Last Legs

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) crashed his green Mustang convertible into a security barrier after barely missing a police cruiser according to police reports. Officers stated that Kennedy's car was observed swerving with its lights off before the accident. They added that Kennedy smelled of alchohol, had an unsteady gait, otherwise appeared intoxicated, and claimed to be on the way to the House to vote (on a bill taken six hours before). Before the officers on the scene were able to administer sobriety tests, higher ups intervened and drove Kennedy home. These rank-and-field cops were left fuming according to patrolmen's union president Lou Cannon. He said, "The officers just want to be able to do their jobs." On Fox & Friends, he added, "I think that it's safe to say that special consideration was given to him by virtue of his position. I think if it was [sic] you or me, we would probably not leave there in the same circumstances."  When asked on F&F what would occur to a normal person who was under the influence of pharmaceuticals and crashed his car into a something, Cannon responded that one would be given field  sobriety tests and could be charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of narcotics, whether they are prescribed or not. Kennedy later said he had not consumed alcohol prior to the incident, had taken prescribed drugs Ambien and Phenergan, and that he apparently was disoriented from the medication. In a follow-up to the accident by a Boston Herald reporter, a hostess at Hawk & Dove, a known Kennedy haunt, said that Kennedy was there the night of the accident and was drinking a little bit: she refused to give her name.