The Washington, D.C., political Web log “Wonkette” speculated Wednesday that the 50ish Falmouth female, whose illegal U-turn in a light-colored Cadillac caused a seven-car pileup on I-295 last week, was Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Implausible, right? Who knows; Police have yet to release her name. A theory is the driver’s name is being withheld because of status or wealth.

Snowe, Wonkette pointed out, is 59, lives in Falmouth, and drives a silver Cadillac. “We’re not sayin’, we’re just sayin’,” Wonkette stated with a virtual shrug.

It’s not her. Congress was in session that day. But secrecy still fueled the rumor.

A similar situation occurred with the hunting tragedy in Paris, until the Maine Warden Service inexplicably volunteered the hunter’s name Tuesday. The public was told the hunter wouldn’t be named unless charged. He hasn’t been charged, but Timothy Bean was identified anyway.

Withholding Bean’s name led to speculation akin to Wonkette’s whacked Snowe theory, along with more practical and valid criticisms. Citizens involved in minor accidents or moving violations are named by police without question. Pull a trigger and leave a young woman dead, though, and wardens are mum.

It’s patently unfair, as is silence on the offending driver from the I-295 crash.

Families of those involved in the crash told the Portland Press-Herald reluctance to name the driver has slowed insurance claims, and caused hardship. Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said since the Cadillac was undamaged in the crash, the driver’s identity is unavailable on public documents.

It’s appalling that crumpled sheet metal – not criminal activity – is the measure by which police are deciding the public’s right to know.

The Warden Service’s abrupt about-face on naming Bean seems to signal acknowledgment of the fruitlessness in trying to control this information. It also, in our opinion, recognizes the illogic of insisting charges – not behavior – are the deciding factor in public dissemination of identity.

Bean, when he raised his muzzle-loader, apparently failed to identify his target and killed Megan Ripley. Maine has strict hunter identification laws – after a hunter in 1988 killed Karen Wood in her backyard after mistaking her white mittens for a deer’s tail – to punish myopic hunters like him.

The Cadillac’s driver, when she made the illegal U-turn, failed to obey obvious traffic laws and injured fellow motorists. Her action is inexcusable, as is her anonymity.

Citizens are named every day for their foibles or fender-benders. By withholding these identities, police have done the offenders, and themselves, a disservice by appearing to unfairly protect them from harm.

Bean must wish he never pulled that trigger. The I-295 driver must wish she waited for the next exit. It’s unfortunate they made bad choices, and may face charges.

None if it excludes them from having to face the public.