NEWS 2000
Saturday September 23 12:19 PM ETDriver in Stephen King Crash Dies
FRYEBURG, Maine (AP) - The driver responsible for the crash that left Stephen King
seriously injured last year has been found dead in his home.
Bryan Edwin Smith, 43, had not been seen or heard from for about three days when
police were summoned to his mobile home Friday evening, at the request of
Smith's brother.
Authorities found Smith's body in his bed. An autopsy was planned, but there was
no sign of violence or foul play, said Capt. James Miclon, who found Smith.
"He was on a variety of medications for his health," Miclon said Saturday. Miclon
did not say what ailments Smith had.
King was walking along a road in North Lovell, where he has a summer home, when he was
struck by Smith's van. The author sustained broken bones in his right leg and hip,
broken ribs, a punctured lung and a skull laceration.
Smith pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanor driving-to-endanger charge in a
plea deal that included a six-month suspended jail sentence and a driver's license
suspension.
State records showed Smith was convicted of driving to endanger and failing to stop
upon the signal of a police officer in 1998.
He was also convicted of failing to produce evidence of insurance in 1991, driving
while intoxicated in 1989 and four speeding violations since 1988.
Interview with Stephen King 2007
