Washington (CNN) – U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson, who is under investigation for possible felony hit-and-run after allegedly causing two car accidents in California, suffered a seizure, a Commerce Department spokeswoman said Monday.
I assume he’ll resign, but if he doesn’t, Obama will have to fire him. Can’t have cabinet level officials facing felony charges in an election year. Even if he is not charged, this looks like a career ending incident to me. Then again, getting a new guy confirmed before the election might be tricky…
Why would the Administration have a problem with a new guy, when Obama can wait until Congress goes home for the weekend so he can make a recess appointment?
I think he’ll resign if there are indications he was driving drunk and it’s possible he’ll resign because the seizures suggest a health problem (if he doesn’t normally have them). But it sounds like the police think the seizure thing is credible. If so, the investigation will probably be brief and Obama is not going to fire him because he probably didn’t do anything wrong.
If it was a simple matter of drunk driving and/or hit and run, I’d say he needs to be fired or resign today. But there are apparently some genuine medical issues that may or may not explain his behavior. The incident needs to be completely investigated. It isn’t time yet for Democrats to panic nor for Republicans to become visibly aroused.
I read the article and I fail to see how this was not addressed by my post. If he was driving drunk, he should resign or be pushed out the door. If there’s a medical issue, he doesn’t deserve to be fired. He’s alleged to have hit the same car twice in short order, continued driving, hit another car and was discovered unconscious behind the wheel. That could be explained by drunkenness or by a neurological issue. So far the police say there’s no evidence he was drunk. I’m sure they’re not done looking into this.
You said he’s probably done nothing wrong. Leaving the scene of an accident is wrong. A medical issue may or may not mitigate that wrong, but it is still a wrong, and could result in criminal charges.
I’ve seen nothing to indicate drugs or alcohol are involved. I think a preliminary alcohol screening was negative, and they’re running a blood test to confirm.
Strangely enough, the same thing happened here awhile ago. The girl’s doctor told her in 2006 not to drive without clearance but she shrugged it off, which resulted in negligence when she lost it on the road five years later. She ended up killing a whole family. Arrested. Trial started today. Link.
IANAD, but getting in an accident, speaking to people in the other vehicle, hitting the vehicle again, and then driving some distance away before hitting someone else doesn’t sound like a normal seizure to me.
Can you do all that stuff during a seizure?
Not typically during a seizure, but confusion and drowsiness are typical symptoms of the postictal state. We had a case down here where a guy had a seizure, woke up, fought with the paramedics, and stole their ambulance. The whole thing was attributed to the seizure, as he wasn’t drunk or on drugs at the time.
I have a close friend who has a history of seizures - but is controlled by medications. One time I was with him when he had a seizure in a restaurant. When he woke up, he did not recognize me or the people with us, walked around in utter confusion before another friend and I gently walked him to the car, drove him to my house where fell asleep for about 30 minutes. During the car ride he was talking fairly normally but kind of not in context.
When he woke up from his nap - he had absolutely no recollection of the seizure. He remembered everything up to the seizure - but nothing after.
If, in this case, it was indeed a seizure, I am not at all surprised by his actions.
Yes, I’ve read stories about seizures like this too. I can’t find the specific cite now, but apparently during (or after?) such a seizure, the patient can be in a state somewhat like “sleepwalking”, sort of. That is, they can continue activities they were doing, like walking or writing or driving a car, but they do so very very poorly because they are not really conscious. If a writer is writing, the writing may become totally illegible. If a driver is driving, he may be able to keep driving the car on the road but not pay attention to stop signs, red lights, pedestrians, etc.