KERRY COCKTAIL
Cappuccino-&-Ambien breakfast
It’s the breakfast of champions, if you’re a Kennedy.
A state trooper testified at Kerry Kennedy’s druggeddriving trial Tuesday that she told him she started her day with a meal of carrots, cappuccino and a pill, which turned out to be Ambien.
Trooper Bradley Molloy also said Kennedy told him after her July 2012 bust that she was headed to the gym before the incident, in which she struck a truck on a Westchester highway and was pulled over.
Kennedy has claimed that she thought she had taken a thyroid medication when she mistakenly took the sleeping pill.
Kennedy lawyer William Aronwald asked witness Elizabeth Spratt, a drug expert, if it was possible that Kennedy was unaware of the drug’s effects while she was driving.
“I wasn’t there. I don’t know if she was aware of them,” Spratt said.
Molloy, a State Police drug-recognition expert, said he had feared Kennedy suffered a stroke or seizure, because he didn’t believe she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“I was concerned that a medical condition might have taken place,” he said.
Kennedy, the daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, had passed a series of sobriety tests performed at the State Police barracks in Somers, convincing Molloy she was sober.
“That’s why at Northern Westchester Hospital I wanted her to get evaluated for [medical issues]. As a drugrecognition expert, my opinion was there was no impairment from drugs or alcohol,” Molloy said while testifying for the prosecution.
But he was told by his supervisor to get her blood tested anyway. Also, the Westchester District Attorney’s Office wanted a urine test, he said.
Molloy also said Kennedy, the exwife of Gov. Cuomo, was concerned she had taken a sleeping pill instead of her thyroid medication.
“The defendant stated she was very concerned because she thought she might have accidentally taken Ambien instead of the Synthroid because they were next to each other on the counter,” said Molloy.
About a dozen supporters joined Kennedy’s mother, Ethel, 85, in the White Plains courtroom to watch the trial.
Kennedy’s camp presented several character witnesses Tuesday, including the priest who married her to Cuomo, and her sister Rory, who said Kennedy “has a stellar reputation for honesty . . . and a reputation for sobriety.”