Waterford — State Sen. Andrew Maynard had a seizure while driving back from Hartford, causing him to crash into another car on Route 32, and he will not be charged in relation to the Jan. 14 accident, Waterford Police Chief Brett Mahoney said in a Tuesday morning news conference.

Mahoney said police didn't administer a field sobriety test for either driver because they didn't smell liquor on either party.

He said medical records police later obtained from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital showed Maynard had suffered a "breakthrough seizure" — or one that occurs despite someone's use of anticonvulsant medication that has otherwise been successful — at the time of the accident. The records showed no alcohol present in Maynard's blood and listed no drugs, Mahoney said.

"As the at-fault party in this accident, Sen. Maynard suffered a medical issue that caused the accident," Mahoney said. "The Waterford Police Department will not be charging the senator."

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Mahoney said everyone involved in the accident, including Maynard, has fully cooperated with the investigation.

It took 11 days for Maynard, who was unconscious immediately after the accident, to communicate with officers verbally and with gestures, Mahoney said.

In the accident report, Officer Richard Avdevich describes the interview he and Officer Matthew Fedor conducted with Maynard, whose attorney and sister were present.

According to Avdevich, Maynard's attorney, Robert Reardon, said Maynard has difficulty reading and writing and has "difficulty finding the right words to say and looks for assistance in completing his thoughts."

Avdevich said Maynard shook his head and said "no" when asked whether he'd consumed any alcohol or drugs in addition to his prescribed medications that day.

Maynard said "we were going" and "something didn't feel right" when describing what he remembers about the drive home from Hartford Jan. 14. Avdevich said police confirmed that Maynard was the only person in the vehicle that day, despite saying "we."

Maynard, after making a motion toward his left, told Avdevich he "went out of it" and the next thing he knew, he was in the hospital.

Reardon said Jan. 18 that Maynard had suffered a concussion in the crash.

In July 2014, Maynard had suffered a traumatic brain injury during a late-night fall from an outdoor staircase at his Stonington home. The Democrat was re-elected in November to represent the 18th District and attended the following session, although he missed most committee meetings. He has declined all media requests for interviews since the first head injury.

Police on Feb. 11 sent their investigation into the crash to the New London County State's Attorney's office for review. Mahoney said the state's attorney agreed with the department's findings.

The accident, initially reported as a one-car crash in which Maynard's vehicle traveled off Route 32 in the area of Maple Avenue and down an embankment around 3:30 p.m., actually involved Maynard driving the wrong way and hitting another vehicle.

Mahoney said when he heard on the police radio that a one-vehicle crash had occurred in the area, he made a Facebook post on the department's page as quickly as possible because of the amount of traffic he knew would be on Route 32 around the time.

He said police learned when they arrived on scene that a second vehicle had been involved.

In the single 911 call about the accident Waterford police released in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Day, the caller first says, "A car went over the divider into the oncoming traffic and went across and off the road."

About a minute into the call, Mary Jo Riley said that the first car hit a second car.

Because there were no life-threatening injuries — the driver and sole occupant of the second vehicle refused medical treatment at the scene — Mahoney said police didn't do a full accident reconstruction.

Police did, however, ask multiple witnesses to describe what they saw, Mahoney said. Based on those statements, police determined that Maynard was traveling southbound on Route 32, hit the center median, travelled diagonally through Route 32's intersection with Scotch Cap Road, continued southbound on Route 32's northbound side and hit the second vehicle shortly thereafter.

From there, Mahoney said, Maynard's vehicle hit a curb, a guardrail, a telephone pole support wire and a tree before coming to a rest about 101 feet from the intersection.

Police said there was no indication the light at the intersection was red when Maynard went through it.

According to Mahoney, three witnesses to the accident described Maynard as having had a medical problem, a seizure or some kind of "trouble" immediately before the collision.

Mahoney said he couldn't comment on whether Maynard had a history of suffering seizures prior to the one that occurred Jan. 14.

Mahoney said police seized Maynard's driver's license and asked the state Department of Motor Vehicles to review his ability to safely drive. According to the warrant, police seized Maynard's license on Jan. 15. The Department of Motor Vehicles withdrew privileges on Jan. 21.

Avdevich wrote in the accident report that a motor vehicle department representative told him Maynard's license had never been subjected to a medical review prior to the accident. That representative said doctors can contact the DMV if they suspect a medical complication may affect a person's ability to drive, but they aren't obligated to do so.

Maynard was present during an informal morning meeting of the Senate on the first day of the 2016 legislative session Feb. 3, where he didn't speak but stood and applauded intermittently with others.

Maynard on Feb. 17 announced that he would not seek re-election to a sixth term this fall.

Police Lt. David Burton said on Feb. 12 that police made the decision to get an independent review because of the "amount of interest surrounding the case."

"Initially, to us, this was a two-car motor vehicle accident with some injury that for all I know a Waterford police officer could be at right now," Mahoney said at the press conference. "There's obviously some extenuating circumstances to this. Once we realized that, (we said,) 'OK, we need to dot our I's cross our T's like we always do, but this one is a little bit more in depth.'"