WASHINGTON — Chris Soules, an Iowa farmer who appeared on "The Bachelor" and "Dancing With The Stars," spoke out Thursday for the first time about his arrest stemming from a deadly crash in 2017.
Soules said in an interview with "Good Morning America" that he doesn't know why he left the scene instead of staying to talk with police.
“I don’t know that I was thinking clearly,” Soules described. “I notified the authorities of what had happened, the paramedics were there, but now I know I was scared and wanted to be in a safer place and be outta there.”
He also denied that he left the scene of the accident because he was intoxicated. Soules explained that he was not drinking that night and the truck, where police said they found alcoholic containers, did not belong to him.
"The Bachelor" star had his plea deal approved by an Iowa judge in August, which imposed a suspended prison term and two years probation.
In April of 2017, Soules was driving a pickup truck that rear-ended Kenneth Mosher's slow-moving tractor on a rural highway in northeastern Iowa. Soules performed CPR on Mosher after calling 911, but left the scene once emergency responders arrived.
Hours later, officers showed up at his home to notify him that Mosher had died and he was being charged.
He pleaded guilty in November to leaving the scene of a serious injury accident.
Soules told Michael Strahan of Good morning America, "I wish I could have done more. I wish I could have saved his life," he said. "I wish I wouldn't have been on that road. I did everything I could."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
