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Son of Robert F. Kennedy denies kicking nurses in dispute over newborn son

Stopped after he removed GPS bracelet from infant in NY hospital and tried to leave

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Sunday, February 26, 2012, 7:32 AM
Updated Sunday, February 26, 2012, 7:32 AM

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See more: Irish American  

Douglas Kennedy with his wife Molly and their son Boru.
Douglas Kennedy with his wife Molly and their son Boru.


The lawyer for Douglas Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy's son, who is facing charges after fighting with nurses at a suburban New York hospital on Jan. 7, described the allegations against his client as a “money grab.”

Kennedy reportedly removed the GPS bracelet from his child and was trying to carry his newborn son, Boru, out of the maternity ward when two nurses tried to stop him, according to the NY Daily News.

Nurses at Northern Westchester Hospital said he wasn't allowed to take the baby from the ward.

When they tried to stop him, they say, Kennedy argued with them while holding the baby and then became violent, allegedly twisting one nurse's arm and kicking another in the pelvis.

He and his wife call the allegations "absurd."

However, Steve Luciano, husband of one of the nurses, Cari Luciano, who made the allegation, told the Daily News that Kennedy kicked his wife in the pelvis when she and a fellow nurse Anna Lane tried to stop Kennedy leaving with the baby.

“My wife was assisting Anna to simply encourage Mr. Kennedy to place the child back into its bassinet,” Luciano said. “It appears on camera that they stumbled into the stairwell and then he veered back and kicked Cari and she went sprawling to the floor.”

“We’re looking forward to having a full picture of the events that occurred that night come to light,” A Kennedy family spokesman Stefan Friedman said on Saturday.

A medical doctor and friend of Kennedy, Timothy Haydock, witnessed the incident and said in a statement that the nurses were the aggressors.

Luciano said the claim was absurd and that Kennedy began the incident by taking off the GPS..

“My understanding is that Mr. Kennedy took it off and said something like, ‘My son needs to get fresh air,'" Luciano said. “From my perspective, the doctor assumed that between your name [Kennedy] and my status, what rules apply?”

“I don’t think that anybody, even a Kennedy, should go around kicking hospital personnel and believe there are no ramifications,” he said, stating that a civil suit was a possibility.

Kennedy, a reporter for Fox News and the 10th child of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, was arraigned Thursday on child endangerment and other charges.

​
See more: Irish American , Robert F. Kennedy
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51 Comments

15 - 51 | See all comments

VonLiebenitz | Mar 05, 2012, 11:59 AM EST
It was his son.I see no problem.Unless the state or the hospital intended on kidnapping the child.Or there were from medical grounds for keeping the child indoors.None of us know all the issues involved but his emotional response seems entirely justified from has so far been reported.Or is that the state requires a legal entity to be created in the form of a birth or "berth" cert to create a legal entity with the child,s name before letting natural born human leave their supervision.From what i see the nurses involved overstepped their mandate.And would we even be discussing this if he was not a Kennedy?He may have overreacted maybe he should have called his lawyer and started legal proceedings to remove his own child form the hospital?Once again the state over steps it,s boundries.This article raise a whole load of issues worth considering on of which would be common law vs maritine but i digress somewhat.It seems that the nurse,s assaulted Mr Kennedy and he was merely defending himself.The fact that they were women really changes nothing.I would imagine that he has a strong case against them and he is the one that should have brought charges in the first place.Not them.People see the headlines Kennedy. nurses and kick and automatically jump to sexist biased conclusions.Pathetic.

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seanomelb | Feb 29, 2012, 04:47 PM EST
Red I'm ambivalent about the kennedy's and have no intention of placing them on a pedestal.In my opinion they wer "soft" Irish republicans. The demonising by some posters who post negatively about Kennedy (and others)needs addressing.BTW I have always claimed that JFK was a mediocre president.

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RedBranch | Feb 29, 2012, 05:44 AM EST
Yes Sean, he deserves his day in court, innocent until proven... etc. My point is this; in 2005 Kennedy refused to meet the SF delegation to the States on St.Patrick's Day, his reason was their apparent complicity in hampering/covering up the murder of Robert McCarthy at the hands of Republicans. Up to that point Kennedy had been to the fore in welcoming SF into the US mainstream and yet one snub over a valid case led to Morrison being unleashed in full poison pen mode. Now Ted Kennedy has been dead these past years and yet nobody, but nobody has been convicted of his murder. His 4 sisters and former partner, all Republicans, all previous SF voters have been ostracised, some forced to move. Like you I believe in due process so I cannot see why you hold those who do not in such high regard....

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seanomelb | Feb 28, 2012, 05:26 PM EST
I'm not sure what your point is Red,but there's no doubt that kennedy had a bad judgement day and if Morrison berated him well and good. Douglas Kennedy may have assaulted the nurses and there may be other issues involved. He,like all of us deserves his day in court.I find it amusing at the rush to judgement by certain posters who are obviously Kennedy haters. His guilt or innocence will be made public, or is it a beat-up by the press!!

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RedBranch | Feb 28, 2012, 03:58 PM EST
Sean, who do you side with when SF attack a Kennedy? I am in possession of a great article where Danny Morrison clinically and effectively lays into Ted Kennedy over Chappaquiddick. Apparently Bush was prepared to cancel all SF visas as a result. So who trumps there Seano?

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Madeliene | Feb 28, 2012, 03:13 PM EST
Rebelforce what if it were your child being kidnapped? Oh another democrat turned Republican bvecause they were mugged???

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Madeliene | Feb 28, 2012, 03:08 PM EST
there is no new crop of Kennedy haters- only the ones who have had to put up with their narcissim and selfishness and entitlelment all these years - now they seem to be propegating another crop of them! no time to hate them they just disgust most people...

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seanomelb | Feb 27, 2012, 10:08 PM EST
Rushing to judgement again by a new crop of Kennedy haters.

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emorstscr | Feb 27, 2012, 07:39 PM EST
Boru Kennedy, poor kid. The very idea of taking an infant out of a hospital in the Winter for some air? This guy should have been tested for substance abuse, as the whole episode sounds insane. To add insult to injury to claim the nurses are after money!!!

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mzjudya | Feb 27, 2012, 05:39 PM EST
I think that someone is either not really that bright or just thought they were above the law. I really am ashamed of the MD who is willing to throw those 2 nurses under the bus just to suck up to the Kennedy's. Oh bye the way I have been a nurse for 26 years and a grandmother who saw 2 of her grandson born at the hospital I worked at and I knew that I could not take them off the unit. I also find it quite strange that he actually did this maybe a psyche eval should be done before this little baby goes home. I am serious!!!!! Please MD's at this facility take a stand and support these 2 nurses.

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merefalow | Feb 27, 2012, 04:22 PM EST
irihpjk,answer,because they censor,

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irishpjk | Feb 27, 2012, 03:22 PM EST
Not all comments are shown Why?

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RedBranch | Feb 27, 2012, 02:41 PM EST
There is an algerbraic formula that states...'Take a Kennedy {in an affulent area} and multiply by assualt on a member of the fair sex (to the power of 2 or more as in this case) and the result is always (=) acquital.

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Edward McDonald | Feb 27, 2012, 12:59 PM EST
Good Lord, the Kennedys are about as shanty trash as you can get. They just don't stop with their entitled, ill mannered shenanigans. They perpetuate the old axiom of my granny Shanahan's saying that..."You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...".

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divajeannie2012 | Feb 27, 2012, 12:15 PM EST
As a nurse 20 yrs-Since the rules of the hosp. were too strict; instead of exposing danger to other newborns-In home birth would have been better-no rules and there was plenty fresh air at any given time. Nurses should be compensated for hazardous duties.No one is above the law-the safety of all patients is the responsibility of the medical facility/medical md/nurses/all hospital employees.

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