SACRAMENTO — A state senator who police say drove erratically for 16 miles before slamming into a stopped car revealed Wednesday that she may have been impaired by medication to combat leukemia.
Sen. Carole Migden's disclosure of a decadelong battle with cancer was the latest surprise in a drama that began Friday after the San Francisco Democrat's state-leased SUV rear-ended a car stopped at a red light in Fairfield, between Sacramento and Oakland. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Wulf Corrington said the driver of the car suffered scrapes and bruises and that a 3-year-old in the back was slightly injured.
"She screamed, 'I'm a senator,' " a witness, Adrian Romo, told KTVU-TV on Friday. "She didn't seem all there at the time."
Migden's office originally attributed the accident to inattention when the senator reached for her cellphone. But police said they received six calls leading up to the accident from motorists reporting her car veering along Interstate 80 and other roads and twice striking the center divider.
Carole Migden


California Senator Carole Migden has revealed that she is suffering from leukemia and that medication prescribed to her may have contributed to a car accident she caused on May 18. Earlier Migden said that she was driving her state-leased SUV while reaching for her cell phone.

The announcement comes when witnesses called police to say that Migden was weaving along Highway 12 in Solano County, California. They also reported that she drove over the center median on several occasions and that after the accident she got out of her car and proceeded to yell, "I'm a senator!." Witnesses say that she "didn't seem all there at the time."

According to Migden, doctors diagnosed her with leukemia in 1997, but did not reveal to the public her disease because she did not want "pity" from anyone. Migden also says that back in February, she was pronounced as "disease free."

Migden says that she had an unexplained medical event and that her medication claim is not an excuse for her driving.

"I owe an explanation to the public and myself and, in particular, the person I hurt. I don't have a recollection of what happened. I can only conclude I had a medical event I can't explain. It's not an excuse; it may be an explanation," said Migden.

Authorities have stated that they recommended charges of "unsafe driving" be filed against Migden, but that the incident still be investigated.