UNC professor’s case dropped after epilepsy diagnosis

Patrick Akos regained consciousness lying handcuffed on a curb on the morning of April 1.

Only after he was transported to UNC Hospitals did he find out why.

Akos, an associate professor in the School of Education, learned he had stolen an ambulance from Orange County EMS and driven it around his neighborhood, crashing it six times, in a post-seizure stupor.

He has since been diagnosed with epilepsy, which he says triggered the episode.

“It was pretty hard to believe,” said Akos, whose wife had summoned the ambulance because she thought her husband was having a stroke.

Akos faced charges of larceny for stealing the ambulance, one count of reckless driving and six counts of hit and run following the incident. Those charges were dropped by District Attorney Jim Woodall at the end of July.

“It’s a huge load off of me,” Akos said.

But he said he is still working to deal with his disease and the damage the ordeal caused to his reputation.

“The only thing I could think about was — people are going to think I’m defective or I’m a criminal,” he said of his feelings following his incident.

Akos said he is moving forward by bringing the details of his story into the open and by working to improve epilepsy awareness.

“It will be helpful for others to understand that, like any disability, you can overcome it,” he said.

Dealing with the fallout

Woodall said the charges were dropped because medical evidence showed Akos was not conscious of his actions and did not have criminal intent.

He added that Akos repaired damage to yards he had driven through and made insurance arrangements to pay for damage to the cars he hit with the ambulance before he came to court.

Akos said UNC has been supportive throughout the ordeal, but he lost a consultation with a local school district after the incident.

“Having a mug shot on the internet — I cannot tell you what that does to your career.”

Akos’ attorney, Michael Paduchowski, said he and Akos’ other attorney are working to have Akos’ criminal record expunged.

As his legal concerns draw to a close, Akos said he is still adjusting to his epilepsy — a disease that has required regular doctor appointments and prevented him from driving his 8- and 10-year old daughters to school.

Living with epilepsy

Akos, who first experienced a seizure in November but wasn’t conclusively diagnosed until this spring, said he has learned people with epilepsy often become disoriented or enter a state of “autopilot” following a seizure.

“There are all different kinds of epilepsy,” he said, explaining that in the future he hopes to work with services that have been helpful to him — like the Epilepsy Foundation of North Carolina — to raise awareness.

Patricia Gibson, who heads that group and the Epilepsy Information Service at Wake Forest School of Medicine, said epileptics are fairly commonly punished for behavior during seizures — a similar incident occurred in Wake county earlier this year. She said that could be prevented if people were informed about epilepsy.

“People don’t understand a lot of times that in a seizure, people are in a very confused state,” Gibson said. “It takes a while to get all of your books back on the shelf.”

Akos said living with epilepsy can be manageable, since many types of epilepsy — Gibson says as many as 60 percent of cases — respond well to medication. She said another 10 to 15 percent can be managed well with more extensive treatment.

Gibson said Akos might speak at a dinner to honor those who work to raise epilepsy awareness Oct. 21.

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