King's Accident
Posted: June 19, 1999, 18:53
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Here is what happened:
King was walking south on the shoulder of Route 5 in North Lovell, where he owns a home, at about 4:30 p.m. when a motorist approaching from behind lost control of his Dodge Caravan because of a dog that was running loose inside.
Oxford County Sheriff's deputy Matt Baker also said that according to witnesses, the driver, Bryan Smith, 41, of Fryeburg, did not appear to be speeding and charges will not be filed against Smith. "There's nothing to charge him with,'' Baker said. "He wasn't being reckless, he was just distracted. If he had been drinking or something like that, it would have been something else.''
Baker didn't know of any state law requiring pets to be secured inside moving vehicles. However, he noted that King was technically violating the law by walking in the same direction as traffic.
King was lying in a depression about 14 feet off the road and appeared to have been thrown by the collision. The van's windshield was broken and the right front corner of the car was crunched in from the impact of striking him, he said.
Baker continued:
He was hurting, but he was able to communicate. He was talking to me. He gave me phone numbers of where to call his family. He was in a lot of pain.
Baker also said he could tell King's leg was broken and he was bleeding from a laceration on his head.
King was transported to Northern Cumberland Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Central Maine Hospital. His physical condition includes a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of the right leg, scalp laceration, and a broken hip. King have had multiple surgery and it'll be somewhere between 9 month and a year before he is fully recovered.
King was discharged from Central Maine Medical Center on June 9, after spending nearly three weeks in the hospital.
You can find info about King's accident on King's official web page and at Central Maine Medical Center's web page.
Thanks to Marc-David Jacobs for sending me updates!
