CUMBERLAND, R.I. (AP) – A Rhode Island state senator said he had been drinking – but was not drunk – when he escaped uninjured after crashing his brother’s car into a utility pole more than a week ago.

Daniel P. Connors, a four-term Democrat from Cumberland, crashed the SUV into a telephone pole along a curve on Abbott Run Valley Road on Aug. 25. The impact split the pole at the base, and caused electrical wires to crash down, igniting the vehicle. Connors got out of the vehicle, and walked about a mile and a half to a political friend’s house to call police.

Connors told The Providence Journal that he went to Gary’s Bar and Grill in Cumberland to talk campaign strategy with some friends about 11:30 p.m. The 28-year-old said he had two beers before leaving about an hour later to drop off a suit jacket to a Cumberland town councilman.

“It was late. I wanted to get home,” Connors told the newspaper. “I was rushing. In retrospect, it was a mistake.”

Connors called police from the home of R. David Cruise, the Democratic Town Committee chairman and chief of staff to Senate President Joseph Montalbano.

“I told them where I was. I wasn’t trying to hide,” Connors explained. “People that have things to hide don’t do that. They evaluated me. If they thought I was drunk, they would have arrested me.”

Asked why he walked so far before notifying authorities, Connors said, “I just wanted to get to a place where I could call the police. And I figured I might as well go there. No one in the area had come out to help me immediately.”

Connors admitted he was speeding when the crash happened. Cumberland Police Capt. Ralph Liguori said Connors did not exhibit any signs of drunkenness, such as the odor of alcohol on his person or bloodshot eyes. Liguori also said the politician made a reasonable attempt to contact authorities.

Connors said he broke his silence over the matter when an editorial in a local newspaper accused him of being impaired.

“I was just grateful to be alive,” he said.