So now we have what passes for an explanation from Anthony Galluccio for what happened late Sunday afternoon at a Cambridge intersection. Let’s just say it doesn’t pass the smell test. Or should that be the breath test?

It seems the hard-charging state senator with a checkered driving history, which includes two convictions for drunk driving and a third case in which witnesses say he was intoxicated, fled the scene of a crash he caused on Sunday because of, well, his checkered driving history. Galluccio claimed yesterday that his questionable driving record caused him to panic and flee.

It’s easy to imagine him panicking, but not in the thoughtless, what-was-I-possibly-thinking way he seems to mean. What if his decision to take off after smashing into a minivan occupied by a couple, their two young children, and the family dog, far from being an impulsive, ill-considered reaction, was actually the rational act of a panicked man who realized he had no ideal options at that point?

Galluccio refused to answer questions yesterday about whether he had been drinking, about where he had been prior to the accident, and where he went afterward. But if he had been drinking, one could imagine the Cambridge pol quickly realizing that a citation for leaving the scene of an accident (or, better still, never getting caught at all) would be far preferable to doing the right — and lawful — thing and staying put and being asked to blow into a Breathalyzer when police arrive.

Had he not been drinking, panic about his past DUI convictions should have prompted Galluccio not to flee but to stay put, and even insist on being tested for alcohol so that there would be no cloud of doubt or suspicion hanging over what he says was a simple error of judgment as he tried to steer around a car waiting to make a left turn.

But Galluccio begged off all questions, saying he needed to do so because of the potential for a court case involving the accident. Galluccio was given a traffic citation for leaving the scene of an accident that caused personal injury and property damage. The father in the minivan was treated for back and neck injuries at Mt. Auburn Hospital. According to today’s Boston Globe, it will be up to a court clerk magistrate to decide whether Galluccio will face criminal charges, for which, if found guilty, he could receive six months to two years in jail and a fine of $500 to $1,000.

For a state Senate that has seen two members brought up on serious criminal charges over the past year, there is now this. Asked yesterday whether the Senate would take any actions against Galluccio, Senate President Therese Murray told the Globe, “Well, first we have to see what the charges are.” But she also seemed to cut him a lot of slack: “We think that public officials should be a little bit beyond what normal people are expected to be, and we think that the senator should, and I believe he has, taken responsibility for his actions.”

Except that Galluccio hasn’t done that at all. Taking responsibility for his actions would involve a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding the accident. Even Galluccio’s claim that he did the right thing a day after the accident and went to the police to admit to the accident remains murky, since the Cambridge police began looking for him on Sunday evening after a witness provided them with the license plate number of the SUV that fled the scene. It is “unclear whether his conscience, or contact from the police, sparked his admission,” says the Globe.

The legal advice Galluccio is getting may be, “dummy up.”  But that is flying in the face of his duty as an elected official and lawmaker to come clean with the public. Galluccio clearly has the right to to say nothing, outside of legal proceedings, about the accident. The public — and his colleagues — have the right to question whether such a posture is compatible with public service in elected office.