Former government minister João Cravinho admitted to being in shock last week after running over a pedestrian on a zebra crossing on Avenida Gago Coutinho in Estoril.
The pedestrian – a man in his 60s – was seriously injured and taken by ambulance to hospital.
Talking to Correio da Manhã newspaper, Cravinho, 77, said: “I have had accidents, but I have never run over anyone before.”
He said he had called the hospital to find out how his victim was and would “call again tomorrow”.
It is not known why the former Socialist, who resigned from government in 2006 and revealed recently that he had been a mason for over 15 years, didn’t stop at the crossing.
Giving his story to reporters, Cravinho said: “It all happened as I was coming out of a roundabout. The man was walking along with a dog, but I only saw the dog and it was on him that I fixed my attention. Unfortunately, I ended up hitting the man, with the dog escaping – and I can confirm that all this happened on a zebra crossing.”
Police are now investigating the accident.
