A state legislator from Scarborough plans to plead not guilty next month to a charge of drunken driving.

Democratic Rep. Sean Flaherty was arrested on Aug. 8 after crashing his car on Interstate 295 southbound in Freeport. He was charged with operating under the influence and ordered to appear in Portland District Court on Oct. 27.

His attorney, Daniel Warren, submitted a letter to the court Aug. 20 asking that Flaherty’s plea of not guilty be entered on his behalf when the case comes up.

Neither Flaherty nor Warren could be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Flaherty, 25, is running for election for a second term.

Contacted after Flaherty’s arrest, his opponent November’s election, Amy Volk, declined comment on the incident other than saying she was glad he was not seriously injured.

“I’m focused on his voting record, not his driving record,” she said.

The state police accident report says that Flaherty’s crash was reported at 1:52 a.m. and Trooper Doug Cropper arrived 14 minutes later.

Flaherty told Cropper that an animal had jumped out in front of him and he had overcorrected. The car swerved across the road, then went down an embankment and rolled over, the report said.

Cropper asked Flaherty whether he had hit a guardrail and Flaherty said he had not. However, there was silver guardrail paint on the passenger’s side of the car, the report said.

Flaherty told Cropper he was coming from a wedding in Sebago and he had been drinking. It was not immediately clear why Flaherty would have been driving in Freeport if he was returning to Scarborough from Sebago.

Contacted Thursday, Cropper declined to release the results of Flaherty’s blood alcohol test, which was done that night.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com