June 11, 2012

"U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson is being investigated in a felony hit-and-run case..."

CBS News reports:
According to the written statement by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, Bryson was behind the wheel of a Lexus which rear-ended another vehicle waiting for a train to pass in the city of San Gabriel. The statement says Bryson spoke with the three males in the other car, then drove away, hitting their Buick again in the process.

Bryson was then "found alone and unconscious behind the wheel of his vehicle," after allegedly causing another accident in the neighboring city of Rosemead....
Bryson is described as "a key member of President Obama's economic team working to implement the administration's top economic priority: accelerating job creation."

The first comment at the link is: "Looks like he's been busy creating bodywork jobs."

UPDATE: A Commerce Department spokeswoman says Bryson had a seizure.

How could a seizure explain the sequence of 3 accidents, with him having a conversation after the first one?

IN THE COMMENTS: Michael K said:
This how Bob Novak's brain tumor was found. It's too early to make fun of him. And too late, maybe, to make fun of Obama. 

42 comments:

yashu said...

Ah, the temptation to allegorize this is great... too easy.

yashu said...

Not that that should stop us from doing so! Parables are fun.

Roger J. said...

From the very limited data it appears no drugs or alcohol were involved--being found unconscious suggests to me that he has some kind of medical condition--I assume and hope he will get a full medical workup.

Way to early in the investigation to make this a "scandal."

Quaestor said...

Why wasn't he arrested and booked on the hit-and-run charge? Complaints filed by the two persons whose cars were damaged would be sufficient in any state to at least get Bryson hauled before a magistrate. Oh, wait... what was I thinking? Everyone knows Cabinet members under a Democratic administration are exempt from such annoyances.

Matt Sablan said...

"Only minor injuries were reported in the other vehicles involved in both accidents."

-- Well, good to know he didn't hurt any one too bad. I wonder what happens in normal hit and run cases when injuries occur

Curious George said...

I don't care if it costs $3,001/day we must get this man right! He's a job creator accelerator!

Bob Ellison said...

Of all the things Obama is not good at, hiring talent appears to be tops.

KCFleming said...

"According to the police statement, which said the investigation was still in its preliminary stages, there were no signs that drug or alcohol use played a role in the crashes."

I suppose that means he wasn't obviously intoxicated or stinking of booze.

But one sign of drug or alcohol use is being found unconscious.

Matt Sablan said...

If no drugs or alcohol were involved; let's say I was driving. I pass out, or something, and hit one car. You know what I don't decide to do? Get back in the car that I apparently lost control of and start driving again.

I say: "Guys, I just passed out or something. I don't know. Call me an ambulance please, because I am spontaneously losing control of my body."

KCFleming said...

"Bryson was in California to give a commencement address."

So, my message to all of you who are looking for a job is:

Put your foot on that gas pedal and keep it there until the day you find a job I created.

KCFleming said...

@Matthew Sablan

Seizure disorders can act like this. Like from an undiagnosed brain tumor or bleed.

But the top three diagnoses in the differential are:
1. intoxication
2. intoxication
3. intoxication

Leon said...

Hit a car stop. Exchange info. Leave and hit it again then drive off and hit another. Pass out. Either severe medical conditions of someone either in law enforcement or media is spinning this in his favor. Time will tell me thinks.

Darrell said...

John Bryson's driving is fine. And he is doing a fine job over at Commerce. A small fine and some time to rest--given his tirelessly fine efforts--and everything will be doing just fine.

Michael K said...

This how Bob Novak's brain tumor was found. It's too early to make fun of him. And too late, maybe, to make fun of Obama.

ndspinelli said...

He's just trying to take the heat of his girlfriend, Lilo. Not a bad rumor for just one cup o' coffee.

Scott M said...

"Hit and Run" is an apt analogy for this administration.

CWJ said...

1If this story does prove to be an embarrassment to BO, perhaps next time they find him passed out under a bus.

Anonymous said...

Sounds similar to the Robert Novak situation.

Brian Brown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

What if someone spiked his drink? Sneaky, sneaky Clinton ops at work again after all of these years?
Or maybe he was out driving his Lexus looking for a Private Sector employee in need of a stimulus from him, like in the movie Pretty Woman about LA nights.

cubanbob said...

I hope for his sake it was a drug or alcohol thing. The other alternatives are usually far worse. Still for a commerce secretary not a bad piece of work for a morning. Look at all the jobs he created, body shop work, lawyers, insurance adjusters, cops and journalists.
if he keeps this up he could stimulate the economy into a recovery all by himself.

Brian Brown said...

June 2012 may be the worst month for any Administration since the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861..

MisterBuddwing said...

Glad to see two of the posters recalling the (tragic) Robert Novak situation. There's now a report that Secretary Bryson suffered a seizure of some kind. I'm no doctor, but that does sound ominous.

tim maguire said...

If this is a fair write up, then no, arrest probably shouldn't be on the table. He wasn't drunk or on drugs.

Leon and Roger are right--medical condition. Is he diabetic? People should have the decency to be worried for him.

grackle said...

I just saw a police spokesman on FoxNews. He said the substance test results are not in yet. If I had to bet right now, given the odds, I would have to bet on him being drunk. BUT, we don't really know yet, do we? I think we must withhold judgement until the facts are determined.

Scott M said...

I think we must withhold judgement until the facts are determined.

That depends entirely on if the car that got hit was wearing a hoodie.

Triangle Man said...

I am glad to see that Pogo correctly identified the seizure disorder that apparently lead to the crashes.

Matt Sablan said...

"If this is a fair write up, then no, arrest probably shouldn't be on the table. He wasn't drunk or on drugs."

-- Maybe after the first accident. But, if he really just spontaneously lost control of his vehicle? He should never have gotten into it again till he knew what happened. The other possibility: The first was an accident, the second is when he passed out. These are possibilities, but I think leaving the scene of two accidents in one night (note that we are not told that he exchanged insurance information or reached an agreement there was no need to do so; rather, another report says that the first car followed him, which makes me think that they had not resolved that problem.)

So, I think there's enough to at least entertain the notion of charges. Also: minor injuries were reported. So, this wasn't just a fender bender, no harm, no foul.

edutcher said...

Another source said something about a seizure.

But why was a Cabinet Secretary doing his own driving? I thought those guys got chaufferred.

Unless, of course, what seized him was a desire to get away from a part of town where he had been seeing someone he wasn't supposed to know.

MisterBuddwing said...

Or, "If he wasn't drunk, maybe we can find another way to nail this guy to the wall... "

Matt Sablan said...

Ah. Yeah. I'm just seeing that he apparently had a seizure before he left for California. That explains things, I guess. But, again, if I had seizures for reasons unknown, I'd be really hesitant to put any thing higher on my to-do list than "find out why I'm having seizures."

Bob Ellison said...

What Pogo said. Hypoglycemia and seizure are implausible explanations. Alcohol is very plausible.

MadisonMan said...

If it was a seizure, I hope he is getting good followup care.

Maybe he can get a Presidential Pardon.

KCFleming said...

"How could a seizure explain the sequence of 3 accidents, with him having a conversation after the first one?"

A series of seizures, or a prolonged one without grand mall jerking, but utter brain disruption. The conversation might have been "odd"; he may have acted confused and unaware what had happened, proceeding along like an automaton.

gerry said...

An economic advisor having siezures explains a lot about Obama's exonomic policies.

KCFleming said...

A 'grand mall' is in Minneapolis.

A 'grand mal' is in epilepsy.

Larry J said...

Seizures and mini-strokes are two possible explainations. Drugs and alcohol are others. If he had a seizure, his judgment could've been affected. It's too soon to know.

Methadras said...

He may have been having a mild stroke. Either way, this is a horrible method of trying to get out from working with Urkel. A simple resignation would have done it.

Bender said...

If he had prior knowledge that he was prone to having seizures (as can be inferred from the quick statement that he had a seizure), then his driving at all, with or without an accident, could in itself constitute reckless driving. It certainly would amount to negligence and if he had run over someone, it could be negligent homicide.

Fred Drinkwater said...

IIRC in California, a licensed driver is obligated to report seizures to DMV, which may then result in revocation of the driver's license. However, I'd bet that in practice, compliance with this rule is roughly on par with compliance with the rule about reporting un-sales-taxed out-of-state purchases to the CA tax guys.

Roger J. said...

unrelated, I think, buy my lady's mother has had 4 accidents in three years--in all cases she asserted she never saw the vehicle she hit--she's 84. Sadly we believe we need to take her keys away, but absent some judicial ruling we have to rely on her, and she is nothing if not headstrong.
Elderly drivers have similar issues. Unless a doc or a judge say she is not fit to drive she will continue to be a public safety menance.

Assuming tox scans clear the violator then you have to eliminate physical/medical issues. Seems to me the proper way to go.

Michael K said...

From Novak's Wiki entry

"Brain tumor diagnosis and resignation

On July 23, 2008, Novak received a citation from police for "failing to yield a right of way" to an 86-year-old pedestrian, Don Clifford Liljenquist, who was hit by Novak's Corvette in slow-moving traffic. Novak drove approximately one block from the scene before being flagged down by a cyclist who had witnessed the accident and subsequently called the police. Novak said that he was unaware that a collision had occurred until being informed by eyewitnesses. This is likely to be accurate, as it is typical in patients with non-dominant (usually right-sided) brain tumors that cause left sided visual problems (including visual neglect), which Novak had ("I have lost not only left peripheral vision but nearly all my left vision").[56] The pedestrian was taken to George Washington University Hospital and treated for a dislocated shoulder.[56][57][58][59]
On July 27, 2008, just days after the car accident, Novak was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a written statement given to his publisher, Novak said: “Doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period.”[