Kennedy - Kerry Kennedy Tells Court: 'Seizure Caused Car Crash'

The former wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was arrested in Westchester County, New York on Friday (13Jul12) after the car she was driving collided with a tractor trailer.

Police found her sitting at the wheel of her car after receiving calls suggesting she had been driving erratically before the accident, and she was subsequently charged with driving while impaired after allegedly failing a sobriety test, but her spokesman, Ken Sunshine, insisted the charges against her were made prematurely.

He told the New York Times, "The charges were filed before the test results were available."

Kerry Kennedy pleaded not guilty when she appeared in North Castle Town Court on Tuesday evening (17Jul12), adding she had been mistaken when she told a cop that she may have accidentally taken a sleeping pill earlier in the day, insisting tests showed "no alcohol, recreational drugs or prescription medication in my system".

She went on to reveal that she had undergone a neurological examination following the incident, during which an Mri scan showed "an area of hyper density" in her brain relating to an old head injury.

She added, "(Doctors have since determined) that this accident was caused not by a sleeping aid but by a complex partial seizure."

At the end of the hearing, the 52-year-old niece of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy was ordered to submit to an evaluation by a substance abuse agency and was ordered to return to court on 14 August (12).