Driver who hit King says he’s sorry > Fryeburg man fears losing his license

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FRYEBURG — The driver who hit suspense writer Stephen King wants to meet the author to tell him he’s sorry. He also wants the world to know that he’s not dangerous.

Bryan Smith, 42, of Fryeburg said he, like King, has been suffering since the June 19 incident on Route 5 in North Lovell, a community in western Maine. King has a summer home in that area, while Smith lives about 15 minutes away from the accident site.

Smith went off the road when he was trying to control his Rottweiler, Bullet, who was nudging his nose into a cooler in the back of a 1985 Dodge Caravan. Smith hit King, throwing him 14 feet into a ditch.

“I got distracted,” Smith said in an interview Wednesday afternoon with the Bangor Daily News. “It was one time, and one time only. I’m very, very sorry.”

But, Smith said, King too apologized. The author was unconscious for about four minutes after he was hit, Smith said. When he awoke, King and Smith talked, Smith said.

“This is what he told me, I don’t know if he remembers this — `I was walking too close to the road. I’m sorry,”‘ Smith recalled.

“And I told him, `I’m sorry, too,”‘ Smith said. “`I didn’t even mean this. I didn’t even mean to hit you. Nothing.’ That’s all that was said.”

King, who was walking against traffic, has undergone six surgeries to repair multiple fractures to his right leg and hip, a collapsed lung, broken ribs and a scalp laceration. He continues his expected yearlong rehabilitation at his Bangor home. Smith said he was not injured.

On Friday, King said he considers Smith to be “dangerous.” He said he has no intention to sue Smith, but wants his driver’s license revoked.

“He doesn’t have anything that I want, believe me,” King said last week. “The only thing that he has that I would like to see taken away is his driver’s license.”

A grand jury in Oxford County will meet Sept. 30 to decide whether charges should be filed against Smith.

“The bottom line is — what the state does to him is the state’s business,” King said. “What the grand jury does to him is the grand jury’s business. But he has no business on the road. He’s a danger to himself and he’s a danger to others.”

Smith said he no longer is staying at his house but instead resides with his girlfriend, Lisa Coury, because he is scared to be alone and is unable to sleep at night.

“If they take my license away, I’ll be in the hospital because I won’t be able to take it,” Smith said. “I can’t take it. I can’t stand to be alone for two, three hours. I gotta go because there’s nobody here with me. It’s pretty hard to sit here with these disabilities. It ain’t no prize.”

Smith uses two metal crutches to help with his walking. In 1979, he cracked his spine when working in the construction industry, and in the 1980s, he had a disc removed from his back. He stopped working in 1987, and collects disability insurance. He said he is experiencing more depression and suffering more anxiety attacks since he hit King. He said he continues to take his prescribed medications, including Prozac and Valium, to cope with bouts of sleeplessness and rapid heartbeats.

The medications do not impair his driving abilities, Smith said. “No, because I’ve been on it for so long. If I go off the Prozac, I get a little angry. I’m not lying. I’ll admit it. I do.”

But Smith has a record of driving convictions with the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles, which includes several offenses in the last 10 years. He said that list is something he said people should view as past indiscretions that do not determine whether he’s too dangerous to be driving now.

He has been convicted of driving to endanger and failing to stop upon the signal of a police officer in March 1998. He also was convicted of failing to produce evidence of insurance in 1991, operating under the influence in 1989, and four speeding violations, two each in 1988 and 1994. In August 1998, he was charged with driving with a suspended license, but that charge was dismissed.

Smith’s driver’s license no longer has the “red star” on it that denotes a previous OUI offense. The license does note that Smith uses special equipment and takes medications, he said.

“I’m not dangerous, no,” Smith said. “Maybe 15 years ago he could say that. Fifteen? Twenty? Yes. I was dangerous. I don’t like it that I’m dangerous.

“I was walking normal. I was talking normal. Acting normal,” Smith said later about the time of the accident. “I was straight. It was just a complete accident.

“To be honest with you, I am very deeply sorry,” he continued. “Very deeply sorry.”

Coury agreed. “I don’t feel they should go by this unfortunate episode to determine whether he is dangerous,” she said. “He doesn’t have a good record from his past, but does that necessarily mean now it’s bad? There’s a lot of change. I’ve been around him, and he doesn’t drink. He’ll leave if he’s in that atmosphere. He’s in chronic pain.”

Smith does not like that his name and King’s comment of “he’s dangerous” have been printed in newspapers nationwide. “In my knowledge, no, that’s not true.

“I’m not even driving now,” Smith said later.

The 1985 Dodge Caravan that Smith was driving when he hit King has been sold to King’s attorney, Warren Silver of Bangor, Smith said. “They bought the van,” he said about Silver and two other men. “They came right to the house. They gave me $1,500 in cash. I gave them the title. It’s paid for.

“I want him to take it because I want him to investigate it,” Smith said. “That’s my purpose. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Silver was unavailable for comment Thursday evening.

With the $1,500, Smith said, he purchased another vehicle. That car, he said, is not operable.

Smith had been camping in Evergreen Valley near Center Lovell with a friend the weekend of the accident. He left the campground to go to a store to buy sodas and snacks for that Saturday night, he said.

En route, Bullet began to nudge his nose against the cooler. Smith said he was coming upon a hill, right before a straightaway where King was hit.

“I took the cooler in case of bear or moose on the loose [at the campground],” Smith said. “It’s wild country out there.

“Just before the accident happened, I looked up and saw this white truck coming and I looked down and the dog was in the back,” Smith continued. “I turned around quick.

“When I turned around is when I went into the ditch, and I heard a little thud, and I didn’t know what it was,” he said. “The dog was reaching for the cooler. I turned my head right around, looking back about three to five seconds. Three seconds, that’s all it took. I didn’t take long.

“I knew I went into the ditch, and I heard a thud noise, like something hit the van,” Smith said. “First of all, there’s deer up there like crazy. I thought it was a small doe. And it wasn’t a doe, and I didn’t know what it was. And I stopped 10 feet away.

“[Witness] Chip Baker said, `Bryan, go get an ambulance.’ And I did. I did that myself,” Smith said.

When Smith returned, he said, he saw a man in the ditch.

“I walked to the side of the road and saw this man laying there,” Smith said. “I didn’t know who he was … and someone said something about King about five or 10 minutes after I was there.”

King’s eyeglasses were knocked off and landed in Smith’s van. Smith said he took them out of the van and gave them to King.

King said Smith, like others who may become distracted by animals, should have pulled over to the side of the road to tend to the dog.

“The other thing we got to keep in mind, too, is that we’ve all had a situation where we’re riding with an animal, the animal can jump on the seat and distract you … and you can swat at it and lose your attention on the road,” King said Friday.

“But my understanding is that one of the witnesses is saying that this guy is down by the entrance to our road, which is almost a half-mile from where he ultimately struck me. At that point he is wandering back and forth. So, it isn’t like he was suddenly surprised and hit me. I wouldn’t have a problem with that if that were the case.”

The statements from witnesses surprised both Smith and Coury on Wednesday afternoon. Coury now questions them because of the notoriety of the case.

“What? Witnesses have said that?” Coury asked. “There’s not that many people on that road.”

The fact that the victim is King may have brought the witnesses forward, she said.

“This is a very, very, very public story,” she said. “As far as the witnesses, who knows? I mean, maybe they really did. Maybe it’s somebody trying to get national attention here.”

Smith admits that he should have stopped to take care of Bullet. “I should have pulled over, but I didn’t,” he said. “It’s only two miles to the store, 2 1/2 from where I was.”

Smith doesn’t think there should be a state law requiring people who become distracted for any reason while driving to pull off the road. On one hand, he agreed that people should be responsible without a state mandate telling them to do so. On the other hand, it may help decrease the number of accidents.

But, Smith said, he did not know whether he will put Bullet on a leash when in the van. He said at this time the dog will not be in a car. “I don’t think he’s going to be riding with me,” he said. “I can’t trust him with other people.”

Smith said he is upset he hit another person. He said he dislikes that what he calls an accident is being treated as a major crime.

“What are they trying to do to me?” Smith asked, mentioning that people in his community are asking him the same question. “An accident happens every day, but not with Stephen King. Who hits Stephen King every day? No one. It’s very, very seldom.

“I’d love to talk to this man,” Smith continued. “I want to show him I ain’t just no dummy walking down the street that don’t know nothin’. I have a lot of talent.”

Smith said his life has changed dramatically since the accident. Newspaper reporters, broadcasters and television shows, including “20/20” and “Inside Edition” are calling, asking for interviews. He has turned down all of them, including programs that have offered him money in exchange for quotes.

“I’m not out for 25 cents,” Smith said. “I’m not like that. I’ve turned down $15,000 already. I don’t want to go on a TV show and make a fool of myself.”

Smith acknowledges that the accident had an enormous impact on King’s life. But, he said, it has affected him, too.

“I still don’t feel right like I should,” Smith said. “I still don’t feel normal. It’s taken more out on me.

“Guilt, guilt,” Coury followed.

“It put me down,” Smith continued. “It’s changing my life.”

“It’s changing Stephen King’s life,” Coury said.

“His life, too,” Smith replied. “And it ain’t helping me none.”

Throughout it all, Smith remains a fan of King’s. He said he has always wanted to meet him since King helped finance the renovations of a ball field in Lovell. He knows the author’s works. “I like the movies better than the books,” he said. “I’ve watched `Cujo’ three times.”

Smith said he hopes the future will be fine. “I have enough medication for the month, yes I do,” Smith said. “I’ve got refills.

“Am I going to be all right?” he asked. “As of right now, I can’t sleep real long at night. I tried sleeping one night, and I was up all night long.

“I can’t sleep,” he said. “It’s just everything. My nerves. Depression. Guilt, whatever.”