Mayor, Senate hopeful cited for leaving accident scene

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Police officials say Helena mayor and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Wilmot Collins has been cited for careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Interim Police Chief Steve Hagen said in a statement Friday that officers responded to a hit-and-run call by a 35-year-old Butte woman who said the mayor rear-ended her vehicle near downtown Helena on Monday evening.

Hagen says the two drivers discussed the accident, and Collins gave her a business card before leaving. There were no injuries.

Hagen says the Lewis and Clark County attorney cited the mayor with the two misdemeanor charges, and he is due to appear in court on Tuesday.

Collins said in a statement that he offered to pay for any damages and that the other driver left the scene first. He says he plans to contest the leaving-the-scene charge.