WEST BARNET, Vt. (AP) – State Sen. George Coppenrath, R-Caledonia, was banged up but not seriously injured when his car collided with a Ford Explorer SUV on U.S. Route 1 in Maine.

“It still seems unbelievable,” Coppenrath said of the July 26 accident. “I honestly thought I was a dead man when the Explorer came flying into me,” said Coppenrath on Monday.

Coppenrath, of West Barnet, who was traveling alone, was treated and released from the York Hospital, as was Corey Wildnauer-Haigney, 19, of South Berwick, Maine, who was driving the Explorer and crossed the center line.

Coppenrath’s full-size Chevrolet pickup, which rolled several times before coming to rest on its passenger side, was totaled.

“I’m really disappointed about my truck, but I’m pleased to be alive,” Coppenrath said.

“The doctors at the hospital could not believe that we were not killed,” said Coppenrath of himself and Haigney.

Coppenrath was wearing a seat belt and said the air bag, which he doesn’t remember deploying, saved his life.

Police later told Coppenrath that Haigney was trying to grab a piece of paper flying around her vehicle when she swerved into the northbound lane.

Coppenrath was vacationing in Maine with his wife, Susan, and three sons Ethan, Taylor and Drew.

Taylor Coppenrath led the University of Vermont basketball team to this year’s NCAA basketball tournament. In the tournament’s first round, the Catamounts beat Syracuse in what was perhaps college basketball’s biggest upset of the year.