Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), after crashing his automobile early Thursday into a security barricade, said today he will check into the Mayo Clinic for additional treatment.

Kennedy, who has received previous treatment for depression and addiction to pain medications, said he decided to seek help because the incident "concerns me greatly."

"I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving infractions," Kennedy said at a Washington news conference broadcast live on cable television.

And I don't remember signing that bill that sold America into slavery.

"That's not how I want to live my life, and it's not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island."

Kennedy said he had received treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota over the Christmas holiday that lasted through the congressional recess in January, allowing him to return to his job "reinvigorated and healthy." Moreover, he said, he had been since then "strong, focused and productive."

But he admitted he "struggles everyday with this disease," which can be thwarted by what he called "everyday life". Even taking over-the-counter medications can create problems for him, part of what he described as "a reality of fighting a chronic condition."

As Kennedy walked away from the podium, he was asked whether he intended to resign and shook his head no. . ."I need to stay in the fight."

Just so you that you know who we have fighting for us. And something tells me his is not an isolated case.

Police officers on the scene reported that Kennedy staggered from his car, a green 1997 Ford Mustang convertible.

"The subject's eyes were red, watery, his speech was slurred, his balance unsure," said the police report. But higher-ups at the scene prevented officers from giving Kennedy a breathalyzer test, according to the police union, which filed a protest.

"The driver exited the vehicle and he was observed to be staggering," wrote Greg Baird, acting chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police's Fraternal Order of Police, in a letter.

The man was WASTED!!! And they did nothing but escort him home! What a joke.

Officers approached the driver, who "declared to them he was a congressman and was late to a vote," Baird wrote. "The House had adjourned nearly three hours before this incident."

Classic! 'Uh, I'm a doctor and I'm late for an operation . . . no wait, I'm pregnant and about to have a baby . . . what, you say? I'm a guy? Okay, I'm a Congressman and I'm late for a vote! That's it!

Pathetic.

Kennedy's past includes several troubling episodes, starting with his treatment in 1986 for cocaine use. More recent, a charter company accused him of causing $28,000 in damage to a rented yacht in 2000. That same year, he acknowledged that he was "on a lot of different medications for, among other things, depression," and was accused of shoving an airport security guard at Los Angeles International Airport when she tried to make him check his bag.

Nice to know we're in good hands, eh?