ST. LOUIS — On Oct. 12, 2019, Trent Swick took a sleeping pill as his doctor prescribed it, and went to bed as an insurance executive raising three kids with a clean criminal record.
He said the next thing he remembers was waking up a few hours later in handcuffs, accused of shooting at two random cars with five people in them. He was in Hillsboro, 30 miles away from his home in Jefferson County.
“The door to my truck was opened and I was looking at my keys and my wallet that were on the ground,” he said of his earliest memories of the incident. “Police were there.
“There were lights everywhere.”
For the past four years, the I-Team has followed this case as it wound its way through the legal system. It all came to a head Dec. 8 when a judge sentenced Swick to seven years in prison, though the law allows him to become eligible for probation after 120 days.
A forensic psychiatrist and Swick’s attorney say the case may become the subject of new research on the sleeping pill Swick took that night, Zolpidem – the generic form of Ambien.
Representatives from Sanofi, which makes the drug, did not return emails seeking comment from the I-Team.
The I-Team obtained Swick’s toxicology report from the night in question, which shows the only substance in his system that night was Zolpidem.
The drug’s medication guide states: “After taking Ambien, you may get up out of bed while not being fully awake and do an activity that you do not know you are doing…"
It continues: "Some of these complex sleep behaviors have caused serious injury and death."
The Ambien defense has been used by celebrities, too.
Actor Charlie Sheen called the drug, “the devil’s aspirin” after he damaged a hotel in 2010.
Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car in 2006 after taking Ambien.
And Roseanne Barr blamed the sleeping pill for racist tweets that ended her show.
A representative from the drug manufacturer Sanofi told Time Magazine, “Racism is not a known side effect.”
The drug’s medication guide also tells users it can cause “sleep driving.”
In Swick’s case, “I walked I would say no more than 20 feet to my bed. I put my dog in his crate, turned the lights off, doors locked, garage shut and went to sleep.”
Police said Swick fired at two random vehicles along Highway 21 before colliding with one of them near Route B.
“The officers' reports said that I was telling them I was being chased by go-carts or men in go-carts, men in fur coats and invisible fur coats,” Swick said. “I don't remember any of that.”
No one was struck by Swick’s gunfire.
The thought that someone could have been moves him to tears.
“Thank God I didn't hit any of them,” he said. “And I know it had to be a living nightmare for those folks.
“And I am so remorseful.”
Now, he said he’s sharing his story to warn people to stay away from the sleeping pill.
“I believe that I think that Ambien should be taken off the market,” Swick said.
Saint Louis University forensic psychiatrist Dr. William Newman testified in Swick’s defense during his sentencing hearing Dec. 8. He said not all people who take the sleeping pill experience side effects.
But he said Swick’s case illustrates how some of those who do can commit acts of violence while unconscious.
He said he wanted to use Swick's case as part of a research paper because it is the only one he knows of that includes a toxicology report proving the sleeping pill was the only substance in the patient's system as it was prescribed.
Newman focused heavily on a cellphone video Swick’s ex-wife took in 2010 that the prosecution showed in court as proof that Swick should have known the drug could alter his reality.
The doctor said the video was helpful for Swick’s defense because it showed the difference between Swick’s actions while he was awake and under the influence of the drug as opposed to the night of the shooting when he was asleep.
Swick said he purposely stayed awake after taking the pill that night. In the video, his wife laughs while Swick tells her he can see a groundhog with a frog on its back holding a spatula in their curtains.
“The frog with the spatula is the mastermind,” Swick told her.
Swick said he went straight to bed every time he took the drug after that episode. And, if ever his kids would call him asking for a ride home, he would tell them he couldn’t come get them if he had already taken the pill. And, he took the pill for nine years without any violent side effects.
On the day in question, Swick said he brought his gun with him while selling a car to a private buyer for protection. But he had used his gun several times on other occasions during the day before taking the pill, such as going to firing ranges with friends of his in law enforcement.
“I never even went to bed and woke up in another room after I took it,” Swick said.
Prosecutors originally charged Swick with multiple first-degree assault charges. Just before the case was about to go to trial in October, he pleaded guilty to reduced assault charges and one count of DWI.
A key question was whether Judge Vic Melenbrink was going to allow Swick’s attorneys to present the Ambien defense to a jury. Melenbrink commended Swick’s attorneys, Neil Bruntrager and Gabe Crocker, for advising their client to enter into the plea agreement because he does not believe the law would have allowed him to let jurors hear the evidence he heard from the doctor during the sentencing hearing.
The victims from the shooting did not attend the hearing. And they did not submit any victim impact statements to the court.
Assistant Jefferson County Prosecutor Courtney Goodwin told the judge the victims supported the prosecution’s recommendation and “just wanted to put the whole thing behind them.”
As part of their recommendation, prosecutors did not oppose probation for Swick.
The judge did, telling Swick, “You shot at five people. You have to go to prison for that.”
About two dozen supporters packed the defense side of the courtroom, many bursting into tears following the judge’s decision. Swick’s son ran out.
Melenbrink is allowing Swick to spend Christmas with his family.
He’s to report to prison Dec. 27.
All Swick says he can think about now is how he’s no longer just an insurance executive with a clean record.
“One of the reasons why I'm upset is because I am now a living example to my kids of what you shouldn't be, and that's a felon,” he said, taking off his glasses to wipe away tears. “I'm a felon.”
Read Swick's statement to the court here: