Early Sunday morning, State Troopers found Rep. Sean Flaherty‘s (D-Scarborough) car on its roof near Freeport on I-295 South. EMTs were treating Flaherty for cuts on his face, head, arms, and hands. Flaherty, supposedly heading home from a wedding in the Sebago Lakes area, lost control of his car after swerving to avoid an animal, struck a guard rail, and the drove into an embankment. Flaherty totaled his car. Flaherty had refused to be taken to a hospital by emergency personnel.
As Trooper Doug Cropper and other troopers questioned Flaherty they began to suspect something other than a possible animal in the road was the cause of the accident.
“During the course of the investigation, it became clear he was under the influence,” Cropper said. “He reeked of alcohol.”
Due to dirt and blood in Flaherty’s mouth, a breathalyzer could not be administered. Flaherty initially refused to allow the State Police to draw his blood for testing, but later consented. After being arrested by State Police and brought to Cumberland County Jail, Flaherty was given a blood test. The crime lab in Augusta is currently testing Flaherty’s blood. State police charged Flaherty with operating under the influence. He was released for $60 bail.
Flaherty has promised to release a statement on the incident sometime tomorrow, and already speculation has begun that he may announce he will not seek re-election just like Representative Jeff Kaelin did in 2006 following a similar incident. If he does, the deadline has passed for the Democrats to fill Flaherty’s spot in the race with a replacement. This means if Flaherty decides to bow out, Republican Amy Volk will face no opposition for the District 127 seat.
Flaherty is lucky to have escaped the crash with what seem to be only minor injuries; thankfully he was not carrying passengers that morning. Thankfully there were no other drivers on the road when Flaherty lost control. We are glad this did not turn out to be a more serious accident.
Until the results come back from Augusta, we don’t know for sure that Flaherty was driving drunk. Some of us do chose to imbibe from time to time, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. One can drink responsibly.
It is, however, the height of irresponsibility to drink, grab your keys, and get behind the wheel. If Flaherty did drive drunk, he endangered himself and others in that manner was callous, plain and simple.
This is certainly a terrible event in Flaherty’s life, but hopefully it is a turning point. Should the test results show that Flaherty did drive over the limit, he should bow out of politics for a time.
We sincerely wish that Flaherty takes the time off to seek the help he needs. We wish him good luck in his recovery and hope he emerges a better person for it.
We will post Flahery’s statement to the press as soon as we receive it.
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