Democratic Senator Caught Lying After Accident (Video)

A Maryland Democratic state senator is facing fresh scrutiny after newly released surveillance and police body-camera footage appeared to contradict what he initially told officers about who had been driving his Land Rover after a minor crash in Annapolis.

State Sen. C. Anthony Muse, 68, was in Annapolis on Aug. 3 for a special session of the Maryland General Assembly when his Land Rover Defender struck the mirror of a parked vehicle in the city’s Eastport neighborhood.

The SUV was later found partly on a sidewalk and up against a tree.

When Annapolis police arrived, Muse told an officer that somebody else had parked the vehicle.

“My driver actually parked here,” Muse said in body-camera footage obtained by Spotlight on Maryland. “My driver parked the vehicle and left to go home.”

But surveillance footage obtained by the same outlet appears to show Muse behind the wheel as the SUV maneuvered into the unusual parking position before he got out alone and walked away.

Watch the full police body-camera footage on YouTube

The video has raised new questions because Muse later acknowledged that he had personally been driving when his Land Rover struck the parked car.

In a written statement to Spotlight on Maryland three days after the incident, Muse said he had been traveling along Severn Avenue when he moved over to make room for an oncoming truck.

“My mirror inadvertently hit the mirror of a parked vehicle,” Muse said.

He said there was nowhere to stop immediately, so he turned the corner, parked hurriedly on the curb and rushed back to apologize to the owner and exchange insurance information.

That explanation differs from what he initially told police about his driver parking the SUV.

Later in the bodycam footage, Muse also told officers directly that he had been driving when the collision occurred.

“I said yes, I was, and I gave them my information,” he said while discussing his conversation with the owner of the other car.

No criminal charges have been filed against Muse in connection with the incident.

The records also do not establish that he was intoxicated.

However, newly released dispatch recordings show that both another motorist and a parking enforcement employee raised concerns at the scene.

The woman whose parked vehicle was struck told a 911 dispatcher that she believed the driver might be intoxicated.

Separately, a parking enforcement employee called police after reporting that Muse had gotten back into the Land Rover.

“The senator just entered the vehicle. I’m not sure he should be driving,” the employee told dispatch.

Roughly three minutes later, the parking officer called again and said the keys had been taken from Muse.

“I was able to get the keys from him,” the employee said.

When police arrived, Muse said he had consumed one alcoholic drink.

Bodycam footage shows officers giving him several options: have another person drive the SUV, allow police to tow it, accept a ride to his hotel, or undergo field sobriety testing if he intended to drive himself.

Muse did not agree to undergo the sobriety testing.

At one point, he told police he planned to drive to the Westin hotel, but officers informed him the vehicle could not simply be driven away in those circumstances.

He eventually agreed to have somebody else take both him and the SUV from the scene.

The footage captured another exchange that has also drawn attention.

While discussing how the situation would be resolved, Muse appeared to say that either the “governor” or “government” would “take care of it.”

The audio is not completely clear.

There is no evidence in the footage that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore personally intervened, and Spotlight on Maryland reported that the remark’s meaning remains unexplained.

Later, a Maryland State Police officer associated with General Assembly security arrived at the scene.

An Annapolis officer explained that authorities had originally planned to tow the Land Rover but decided against doing so after arrangements were made for another person to remove the vehicle.

Muse then remarked, “I guess I’m a little bit more important than I thought,” according to the body-camera footage.

An Annapolis officer also told the state trooper that police did not consider the earlier collision a hit-and-run because Muse ultimately returned, exchanged insurance information and spoke with the vehicle owner.

The records therefore present a more complicated picture than the initial viral claims.

Police did not charge Muse with DUI, hit-and-run or any other crime.

But the surveillance footage does appear to contradict his initial statement that a driver had parked the Land Rover and left.

Spotlight on Maryland also reported that Muse has not answered its repeated questions about whether he had been drinking beyond his statement to officers that he had consumed one drink.

Muse is a Democrat representing Maryland Senate District 26 in Prince George’s County and serves on the Judicial Proceedings Committee and as vice chair of the Executive Nominations Committee, according to the Maryland General Assembly.

He was in Annapolis because lawmakers had been called into a special legislative session running Aug. 3 through Aug. 5.

The political fallout has focused largely on whether elected officials are being held to the same standards as everyone else.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said senators remain accountable to their constituents and are bound by the General Assembly’s ethical rules.

“My responsibility as Senate President is to uphold the integrity of the Senate and ensure that standards are enforced fairly and without bias,” Ferguson said.

The newly released footage does not prove criminal wrongdoing.

But it does document a clear inconsistency between what Muse initially told an officer about who parked his Land Rover and what surveillance footage appears to show.

For now, that discrepancy — rather than any criminal charge — is at the center of the questions surrounding the incident.