Kennedy enters rehab

WASHINGTON -- Less than 36 hours after he crashed into a checkpoint barrier near the Capitol, US Representative Patrick J. Kennedy announced yesterday that he is addicted to pain medication and checked himself into the Mayo Clinic for treatment. It was his second trip to the renowned Minnesota rehabilitation center in six months.

Kennedy, who has spoken openly about his battles with substance abuse and depression in the past, made the announcement at a press conference on Capitol Hill. Reading from a prepared statement, Kennedy, 38, suggested that his erratic driving and strange behavior at the time of the accident just before 3 a.m. Thursday was triggered by the prescription medication Phenergan, prescribed to treat a stomach flu. In an earlier statement, he also cited taking the sleeping pill Ambien.

''I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions," he told reporters, his expression stoic but his voice wavering. ''That's not how I want to live my life, and that's not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island."

When a reporter asked Kennedy afterward whether he would resign, he answered: ''I need to stay in this fight." He took no questions during the news conference.

The six-term congressman had been facing mounting questions about his behavior in the traffic incident, and whether Capitol Police had given him preferential treatment.

Police cited Kennedy for failure to stay in the proper lane, speeding, and failure to give full attention to a vehicle. They were canvassing bars near the Capitol to determine whether Kennedy was seen in any of them.

According to an official police report, Kennedy's Ford Mustang raced through a construction site without its headlights on, weaved to the wrong side of the road, and narrowly missed hitting a police patrol car near the Capitol before crashing into a security barrier leading to a Capitol Hill parking lot. As they talked with Kennedy after the single-car crash, police noted that Kennedy's eyes were watery, his ''speech was slightly slurred," and ''his balance was unsure," the report said.

Kennedy told officers that he was ''headed to the Capitol to make a vote," the report said, even though the accident occurred at 2:47 a.m. and all voting in the House of Representatives had concluded hours earlier.

But police did not issue him a citation at the scene, or file an official report, until late Thursday evening or early yesterday morning, after it had been reported in the press, according to a veteran police officer familiar with the police report.

Officers at the scene also did not perform a breathalyzer test to determine whether Kennedy had been drinking, despite the fact that they checked off alcohol influence and not drug use as a suspected contributing factor in the crash.

That led to a storm of criticism of the Capitol Police, whose jurisdiction includes the Capitol, congressional office buildings, and other federal properties.

Lou Cannon, president of the police union that represents the department, said that his organization delivered a complaint letter to the interim police chief about the handling of the case. He said he understands that a supervisor is being reassigned for failure to follow protocol.

Cannon said that the officers on the scene wanted to test Kennedy's sobriety, but they were overruled by supervisors who arrived with orders to drive Kennedy home.

''How high up the food chain this went, I do not have this," said Cannon. ''I don't think that you or I would have gotten the same treatment."

Christopher McGaffin, acting chief of the Capitol Police, told the congressional newspaper Roll Call that supervisors had made errors of judgment and ''significant" administrative action had been taken.

The Capitol Police website posted a statement saying that the department is ''reviewing steps taken during the initial accident investigation" to make sure proper procedures were followed.

At his press conference yesterday, Kennedy did not specify the painkillers he had been taking or the reason they had been prescribed, and he did not say what triggered his relapse.

''The reoccurrence of an addiction problem can be triggered by things that happen in everyday life, such as taking the common treatment for a stomach flu," he said. ''That's not an excuse for what happened, but it is a reality of fighting a chronic condition for which I'm taking full responsibility. I am deeply concerned about my reaction to the medication and my lack of knowledge of the accident that evening.

''I do know enough to know that I need help," he said.

Kennedy said he checked himself into the Mayo Clinic this past Christmas for ''addiction to prescription pain medication." Afterward, ''I returned to the House of Representatives and to Rhode Island reinvigorated and healthy," he said.

''Of course in every recovery, each day has its ups and downs. But I have been strong, focused and productive in my term in office," Kennedy said. Still, ''the incident on Wednesday evening concerns me greatly."

Last month, however, Kennedy had another minor traffic accident in Portsmouth, R.I., outside a CVS drugstore when his car collided with another car in a parking lot. No one was injured in that accident. In Washington, Kennedy is expected to receive a summons to appear at the District of Columbia Superior Court within the next 30 days for the three traffic infractions.

Though Kennedy said he would be treated in the Mayo Clinic for addiction to prescription pain medicine, he released a letter from Dr. John F. Eisold, his physician, that said he had prescribed the antinausea drug Phenergan when Kennedy came to him for treatment four days ago.

Kennedy had also been taking Ambien, a sleep aid Eisold prescribed for him on April 25 to treat insomnia, the letter said.

Researchers have linked Ambien to cases of sleepwalking, including ''extreme cases" that involve sleep-driving, according to researchers at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minnesota who are studying the drug. Kennedy's colleagues in Congress, including his father, were supportive of him in statements issued yesterday.

''I have the rare and special honor of being able to serve with my son in the Congress, and I have enormous respect for the work Patrick has done," Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement. The senator had several conservations with his son since Thursday.

''All of us in the family admire his courage in speaking publicly about very personal issues and fully support his decision to seek treatment," the senator said. ''The people of the First District of Rhode Island have a tireless champion for the issues they care about, and, today, I hope they join me in feeling pride and respect for a courageous man who has admitted to a problem and taken bold action to correct it."

In an interview with the Providence Journal yesterday, the representative said, ''I've got to do total abstinence, period," referring to drugs and alcohol.

Representative James R. Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat, said, ''I hope his actions will give others suffering from addiction or mental illness the courage to seek help themselves."

Yesterday, Kennedy spoke in sweeping terms about his career in government and his 15-year struggle with addiction and depression. He said that serving the people of Rhode Island has been ''the greatest honor" of his public life, and that he was ''determined to address this issue" so that he could continue to stay on in office.

Material from Reuters was included in this report.