Driver
Who Hit Stephen King Buried
By CHRIS GOSIER, AP
03:15 PM ET 09/26/00
FRYEBURG, Maine (AP)
The accident that put Bryan Smith in the spotlight _
running over horror writer Stephen King - was far from
his biggest worry before he was found dead in his
trailer last weekend. He took pain medications for a
longstanding back injury. One of his arms was weak.
Carpal tunnel syndrome and depression only added to
the problems of a 43-year-old grandfather who was
surviving on disability payments.
Smith was buried
Tuesday. Autopsy results were inconclusive, and the
state medical examiner's office was awaiting
toxicology reports before determining a cause of
death.
Police, however,
said there is no evidence Smith killed himself. And
friends and relatives said he wasn't particularly
upset about the accident that injured King, nor was he
tormented by the writer's fans. He was looking forward
to getting his driver's license back in January.
Smith smashed into
King in June 1999 as the author walked along a
two-lane highway near his summer home. Smith said he
looked away for a few seconds because his dog was
getting into a cooler in the van.
King was
hospitalized with a broken leg, broken hip, broken
ribs and a collapsed lung. Smith at first described
the crash as an ``accident without a cause'' before
apologizing to King and accepting responsibility for
the accident. He lost his license and was given a
suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to a
misdemeanor.
Smith seemed
untroubled by the people who occasionally snapped
pictures of his trailer or made obscene gestures at
him, said Ron Ela, a sheet-metal worker who
occasionally gave Smith rides. ``We kind of joked a
little bit, and laughed about it,'' he said.
Lisa Coury, who
dated Smith for two years until a few weeks before his
death, described Smith as a talented mechanic and
woodworker who had been told he would probably soon be
in a wheelchair because of the back injury he suffered
in 1979. His legs also were becoming numb, she said,
but he insisted on helping her with car repairs,
plumbing or other chores.
``He shouldn't have
been doing it, but he was just really kindhearted and
wanted to help,'' she said. ``It would take him a long
time and he would be in even more excruciating pain
after.'' Smith wanted to buy a computer so that he
might design instructions for building furniture. He
mentioned teaching car repair classes, and
contemplated writing a book about his life and the
accident.
Hopes of a brighter
future came to a close Friday night. Police found
Smith in bed after family members said he had not been
seen for three days. One of the officers who found the
body was his older brother, Everett Smith, who said
Bryan held no ill will toward King.
``We're all sorry
for what happened, and we hope Stephen King
understands that,'' Smith said.
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