Man suffers head injuries in plunge from moving car

A Bangor man was being evaluated at St. Joseph Hospital late Friday afternoon for possible head injuries after he stepped out of a car as it was traveling 50 miles an hour southbound on Interstate 95.

A hospital nursing supervisor reported early Friday afternoon that X-rays were being taken to determine the extent of head injuries suffered by Alan Openshaw, 33, of Court Street. A Maine state trooper investigating the accident said Openshaw had tumbled about 30 feet along the roadway after he left the car driven by Nancy White, 38, of Bangor.

White said Openshaw had asked her to stop the car but got out before she could do so.

Bangor Patrolman Stephen Jordan said he arrived at the scene around 1:30 p.m. and found Openshaw lying in the breakdown lane between exits 48 and 49. The accident occurred on a section of the interstate parallel with the Oriental Jade Restaurant.

State Trooper Barry Curtis, who was investigating the incident with Trooper Cliff Sibley said skid marks made by Openshaw’s clothing show that the man rolled about 30 feet before coming to a stop. Curtis said a large pool of blood was found where Openshaw first struck the hardtop pavement.

Witnesses reported the Openshaw had received other minor cuts and scrapes.

White said she and Openshaw were on the interstate heading toward the Broadway exit when Openshaw asked to get out. She said she then began to move toward the breakdown lane as she told him to wait until she could stop.

“As soon as he reached over (for the door handle), I slammed on the brakes, she said, “but I couldn’t completely stop the car before he got out. It happened so fast.”

Openshaw apparently sat up minutes later in the breakdown lane but became agitated when an ambulance crew tried to strap on neck and elbow braces.

“He doesn’t really like to be confined,” White said outside of the hospital’s emergency room where Openshaw was being treated.

She added later that physicians were concerned with Openshaw’s emotional state as well as his physical state. While normally Openshaw has a positive attitude, she said that for the past week he seemed a little depressed.

White said she has known Openshaw since April when he came into the law office where she works and asked to help with a specific case. White would not say what case had caught the man’s interest.

Since that time, she said he would run errands, look up words in a dictionary, and do small chores in the office. On Friday White said she would take him to lunch at a different restaurant in the Bangor area. Being new to Bangor, this helped her to get to know the area better, she said.

“I never had any inkling that this would happen,” she said.