Helena mayor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Wilmot Collins admitted Tuesday to rear-ending another vehicle last week but pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of the crash.
Collins told Lewis and Clark County Justice of the Peace Mike Swingley that his foot slipped off the brake but he believed he caught it before hitting the vehicle in front of him. Not believing he had struck the vehicle, he drove off but was then flagged down by the other driver who honked at him and they pulled into a parking lot. There, he observed damage to the other vehicle consisting of “two small black circles,” he said.
Collins was fined $50 plus a $35 surcharge for careless driving. No trial date has been set on the remaining charge. Both charges are misdemeanors.