Sleeping Va. Driver Convicted In Crash
Man Had Taken Too Much Ambien

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Paris Gebrkidan was loading her son's birthday presents into her car when a silver Honda Civic careered down the Alexandria street toward her. At the wheel was Brian Riley, who had been fighting a chronic sleep disorder and had taken the prescription drug Ambien. He was, by all accounts, asleep.

Riley's car plowed into Gebrkidan that January evening. Yesterday, an Alexandria judge convicted the 32-year-old salesman of driving under the influence of sleep medication -- the Ambien -- and of maiming in a crash so severe that Gebrkidan's leg had to be amputated below the knee. Riley faces up to six years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 21.

The crash highlighted the increasing national problem of people sleepwalking and driving while under the influence of popular prescription sleep medications. A disoriented U.S. Rep. Patrick. J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) focused attention on the issue this year when he crashed his car near the Capitol after taking what he said were Ambien and Phenergan, a prescription drug for stomach inflammation.

Although a growing body of studies has linked Ambien with incidents including nocturnal eating and shoplifting, experts said the Alexandria case is unusual -- for the severity of Gebrkidan's injury and the seriousness of the felony charge. Riley had taken five times the recommended dosage, testimony showed. They said more such cases could result as Ambien soars in popularity. More than 24 million prescriptions were written for the drug in 2004.

"People should not take Ambien and drive, period," said Patrick Harding, supervisor of toxicology at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, which studied 187 people who drove under the drug's influence. "They acted like zombies. They were driving in the wrong direction, stopped in the middle of traffic, backing up traffic."

During the two-day trial, Riley's attorneys emphasized an unusual defense they called sleep-driving. They argued that Riley should not be held criminally liable because he was unconscious behind the wheel, and his actions were involuntary.

But prosecutors persuaded Circuit Court Judge John E. Kloch to convict Riley of driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, and maiming resulting from DWI, a felony. They argued that Riley was responsible for his actions.

"He didn't intend to hurt this lady, and he may not have even intended to drive," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Sullivan said in an interview yesterday. "But with his sleepwalking in the past and his abuse of sleeping pills, he was on notice that this might occur."

She added that the case "puts the public on notice of what can happen when you abuse prescription medication."

Harding said more defense attorneys are likely to try the sleep-driving argument. "It didn't have a name, and it wasn't raised as a defense in the past, but I think we will be seeing more of that in the future," Harding said.

Melissa Feltmann, a spokeswoman for Sanofi-Aventis, the French manufacturer of Ambien, declined to comment on the case but emphasized that the drug should be taken only with a prescription and at the prescribed dosage. Testimony at Riley's trial showed that he had no prescription for the Ambien he ingested before his car struck Gebrkidan.

"Ambien is safe and effective when used as a prescription for treatment of insomnia," Feltmann said. "You should not take it and get behind the wheel of a car."

Andrew Carroll, an attorney for Riley, said his client does not remember doing that. He said Riley regularly uses sleep aids because he has had problems sleeping for five years.

More recently, he said, Riley has occasionally walked in his sleep. His fiancee has found him awake in their apartment, cooking and talking incoherently at times.

On the day of the crash, Riley came home early from work and took a high dosage of Ambien "because he just wanted to make sure he went to sleep," Carroll said.

"He left the apartment in his sleep clothes, sweats and a T-shirt. Next thing he knows, he's in jail," Carroll said.

A few blocks away, Gebrkidan's car was parked along the curb on Taney Avenue. Her sister's car was parked in the road with its hazard lights on next to hers. Gebrkidan, now 33, was loading packages for her 6-year-old son's birthday party the next day from her sister's car into hers.

Suddenly, Riley's Honda came down the street and veered toward the curb without braking, hitting Gebrkidan and throwing her onto the car's windshield. It is unclear how fast Riley was driving in the 25 mph zone.

Gebrkidan's right leg was also severely injured, according to court documents and prosecutors. She was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where she suffered a stroke several days later, Gebrkidan's husband, Mengis Haile, said yesterday. He said Gebrkidan remained hospitalized for several months and returned home from a rehabilitation center only three weeks ago. She requires constant medical care.

"She is angry. She is thinking about when she was walking, but she has come a long way," Haile said of his wife, a U.S. citizen who emigrated from Eritria in 1994. Gebrkidan used to sell hot dogs at the Crystal City Metro station and used to work part time at a drugstore.