Waterford police, Senate Democrats are misleading the public.

I suppose it should come as no great surprise that a political establishment that has shrunk from full disclosure about the mental capacity of Sen. Andrew Maynard during his recovery from a traumatic brain injury was so slow to acknowledge the facts of his horrific car accident last week.

Hours after Maynard went careening down the wrong side of a divided highway, Route 32 in Waterford, slamming into a car headed in the opposite direction, then presumably sailing over a guardrail, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, Adam Joseph, issued a calming news release.

“Senator Andrew Maynard (D-Stonington) was involved in a one-car accident ... He was treated at the scene; is conscious and is undergoing further evaluation at an area hospital.”

It wasn’t until the next day — after an entire news cycle, with statewide reporting on the erroneous account of the accident — that the truth began to emerge. There were actually two cars in the accident, both totaled, and the senator, who eventually spent four nights in the hospital, was left unconscious.

And, more worrisome, the truth didn’t finally originate from official sources, from either the Senate Democrats or Waterford police.

It wasn’t until the husband of the driver of the car the senator hit called The Day’s newsroom Friday morning, to correct the front-page story that quoted police and Senate Democrats that it was a one-car accident, that we began to learn the truth.

If not for that call and candor, I doubt we would even know yet as much as we do about how serious the accident was.

Joseph said Tuesday he based his news release last week on reports “from multiple people in the area, including folks in law enforcement,” but he wouldn’t name them or say whether Waterford police officials were among them.

As late as Thursday evening, long after both cars had been towed and Maynard had been admitted to the hospital, police told The Day that it was a one-car accident.

I tried to hunt down Waterford Police Chief Brett Mahoney Tuesday to ask about the misleading police reports on the Maynard accident, leaving a detailed message on his cellphone, but he never emerged from the bunker where he evidently has hunkered down, avoiding all media questions about the cause and details in the senatorial crackup. A lieutenant did talk to a reporter Tuesday.

We might have hoped to hear Friday morning from police about the incorrect account of the senator’s accident on the newspaper’s front page, but evidently they were willing to let their erroneous account stand.

The sunny account of things continued into this week, with a report from the senator’s new super attorney, who suggested that a smiling Sen. Maynard, nursing a headache, was anxious to get back to work at the General Assembly.

Honestly, it makes you think of that old saying about a river in Egypt.

Denial may well turn out to be at the root of the problems with Maynard, who appears to be taking on far more than he can handle, voting and driving, as he and his family apparently steer for the 10-year state employment mark, which he will reach by the end of his term, that will provide him a small pension and a lifetime of medical benefits.

Senate Democrats have refused all interview requests for the senator since his brain injury, caused by a late-night fall at home, and no medical assessments have been made available.

It would be easy to refute mounting anecdotal evidence that the senator is unable to function effectively in the legislature with a simple interview. But it has not been allowed. Indeed, Senate staffers steer the media away from the senator at public events.

Worse, Democrats sent voters a dishonest mailer about the senator’s condition, showing pictures in which he appears to engage with constituents, which he apparently isn’t able to do. Some municipal leaders in the region say they no longer have a senator to consult.

Most troubling of all, especially after the accident, is that the senator has been driving.

Joseph of the Senate Democrats said last week that Maynard has been cleared to drive. But he acknowledged Tuesday he doesn’t know who cleared him. He said the senator’s family told him he has been.

Many people who have had traumatic brain injuries, especially ones involving seizures, which the senator did, are never allowed to drive again.

States have different rules about how drivers must become recertified after a brain injury or stroke. In Connecticut, there is no mandatory reporting of brain injury by medical professionals, but a police report from an accident could trigger a state review of an injured person’s license.

Now that the senator has lawyered up, you can begin to see how the state, too, may have liability here, if the senator indeed was on his way from a caucus in Hartford, clocking miles for his state account, when the accident occurred. Those who have been letting him vote and drive might bear some responsibility.

I understand Democrats have been loath to allow a special election to replace Sen. Maynard, who missed most of his committee meetings last session but who voted down the party line, including the razor-thin vote on the Democrats’ leaking budget.

I am not sure which is worse, making laws without any accounting to your constituents about how you voted, or endangering innocent citizens as a wrong-way driver.

And where are Connecticut Republicans? Are they all in denial, too?