As they say, the acorn doesn't fall too far from the tree:

Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and while a police official said he appeared intoxicated Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness.
...
Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed his Ford Mustang into a barrier on Capitol Hill early Thursday morning, said Louis P. Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Cannon, who was not there, said the officers involved in the accident were instructed by an official "above the rank of patrolman" to take Kennedy home.

No sobriety tests were conducted at the scene.

Of course, had you or I been in that same situation, we would have had our asses hauled off to jail for DUI. At the very least, a sobriety test would have been given. Pretty much every state in the union, and I'd guess D.C. too, doesn't differentiate between alcohol related impairment, and impairment due to prescription drugs. If you're so out of it that you can't drive, no matter why, you shouldn't be driving.

Luckily for him he wasn't going over a bridge with a passenger in the car.