Kennedy Clan Aunt Was Driving In Hyannis
HYANNIS, Mass. -- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of the late president John F. Kennedy, suffered a broken left leg in Hyannis Thursday afternoon when her Jeep Cherokee was hit head-on by a pickup truck.
Police said that Shriver was driving on Route 28 on Cape Cod when Jonathan Swearinger's pickup truck allegedly made an illegal left turn, running into Shriver's vehicle.
Swearinger, 20, of Marianna, Fla., is a player on the Cotuit Kettleers, a team in the Cape Cod baseball league.
Shriver suffered a broken left leg and lacerations in the accident, (pictured right) which occurred at 3:11 p.m. Thursday. She was taken to Cape Cod Hospital, where she is in stable condition.
The truck driver was charged with making an illegal turn. Shriver was cited for driving an unregistered vehicle and for not using her seatbelt. Her Jeep registration expired in March.
Shriver, who will turn 80 on July 10, had surgery last October at John Hopkins Hospital in Maryland to remove a pancreatic tumor. She spent seven weeks in the hospital because of an infection related to the surgery.
Shriver, whose sister Rosemary was mentally retarded, is known for founding the Special Olympics in 1968. She also heads the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, which funds Catholic organizations for the mentally handicapped.
In 1981 she founded the Community of Caring program to curb teenage pregnancy.
The fifth of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, she is the sister of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, the mother of Maryland delegate Mark Shriver and NBC-TV personality Maria Shriver.
Her husband, R. Sargent Shriver, was founding director of the Peace Corps and was Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1972.
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