Pedestrian killed by automobile identified

SOUTHWEST HARBOR — William Porter Jr., 38, of Southwest Harbor was identified Thursday as the pedestrian killed by an automobile while walking along a bridge on Route 102 Wednesday evening.

Porter was pronounced dead at Mount Desert Island Hospital after he was struck by a Cadillac traveling over the Bass Harbor bridge, on the Southwest Harbor-Tremont town line. Hospital spokeswoman Carol Gordon said Porter suffered multiple trauma in the accident.

Southwest Harbor and Maine State Police are still investigating the accident but believe Porter may have been checking bait traps in the nearby marsh when the car, heading toward Tremont, struck him, propelling him over the bridge and into the shallow waters of the Bass Harbor Marsh.

“He apparently was checking his minnow traps that he had near or under the bridge,” said investigating Officer Mike Miller of the Southwest Harbor Police Department. Porter’s truck was parked about 50 feet back from the bridge and the scene of the accident.

Porter was floating in the water when two people came upon the scene and pulled him out, said Miller. Although he was conscious at the time, he died shortly after.

On Thursday, police identified the driver of the car as Frank Reese, 71, of Tremont. Reese was in stable condition at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, hospital officials said Thursday afternoon.

Southwest Harbor firefighter had to use the Jaws of Life to remove Reese from his vehicle. His blue Cadillac was badly mangled when it hit several concrete and wooden pilings along the bridge. The car came to a stop in the middle of the bridge.