14 Details About The Horrible Accident That Almost Killed Stephen King

Is it a coincidence that Stephen King wrote about a demonic vehicle in Christine before he himself had an evil vehicle experience? Probably. But to ensure any overly enthusiastic fans wouldn't pounce on the souvenir, King purchased the 1985 Dodge Caravan that hit him from Bryan Smith for $1,500. He wanted to raise some money for charity by allowing people to beat up the van in return for a small fee, but King's wife Tabitha talked him out of it. It was eventually demolished in a junk yard.

On September 21, 2000, Bryan Smith passed away and was discovered in his trailer by his brother. Sheriff James Miclon said, "There he was, on his back in bed, covered up. He was just laying there, like he went to sleep." A preliminary autopsy showed inconclusive results and the cause of death was unknown. It was later discovered Smith died of an overdose of painkillers. On the same day, Stephen King turned 53 years old. Perhaps because it was his birthday, King became remorseful, commenting, "Our lives came together in a strange way. I'm grateful I didn't die. I'm sorry he's gone."

Bryan Smith was not what anyone would consider a "good" driver. He had a previous conviction for driving under the influence, once passing out on his lawn after running several cars off the road. Between 1989 and 1998, he was convicted 11 times for driving under the influence and speeding. His driver's license was suspended and restored three times in 1998 alone. After the accident, King commented, "There isn't really anything that he's got that I want except his license. Unfortunately that's a paper that's very hard to get away from anybody in any state." According to Smith's driving record, King's statement is incredibly accurate.

In a weird connection to Cujo, a dog is partially to blame for Stephen King's accident. Bryan Smith claimed he was distracted while driving by his dog, who was loose in the van. Smith had two Rottweilers named Pistol and Bullet, said to be his only real companions. Supposedly, Bullet was trying to get into a cooler full of beer and, in trying to stop the dog, Smith swerved off the road at the exact spot Stephen King happened to be walking. After Smith's death, Pistol and Bullet were found next to his body and placed in a shelter.

Warren Silver, Stephen King's lawyer, pointed out some possible bad police work surrounding Bryan Smith, stating, ''They should have impounded the vehicle, and they should have tested him for drugs and alcohol at the scene, and they didn't do it." It is also interesting to note Matt Baker, the sheriff's deputy who responded to the accident, was once a member of the Fryeburg (a small town in Maine) police along with Everett Smith, Bryan Smith's brother. Supposedly, the only eyewitness that gave a statement was Matt Baker's uncle, Chip.

Bryan Smith slammed into Stephen King so hard, the author's glasses flew off and were found in the front seat of Smith's van. Smith believed he hit a small deer until he saw the bloody frames. As King himself said in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, "The frames were bent and twisted, but the lenses were unbroken. They are the lenses I'm wearing now, as I write this." King replaced the damaged frames, but decided to keep the lenses. ''I guess that I wanted to say that things that we ordinarily would see as quite fragile aren't necessarily that fragile. It's true of the glasses, and it's true of me. I got bent, I got busted around a lot, but I'm still here.''

Stephen King used the story of his accident as inspiration for the final novel of The Dark Tower series. He created a character named Bryan Smith, apparently modeled after the real man, but more reckless and dumb. In the novel, Smith is driving while high and gets distracted by his dog. Smith nearly strikes a character, aptly named Stephen King, with his car, but instead hits and kills another character who pushes King out of the way. Conversations in the book are based on the real exchange that took place between King and Smith while they waited for medical help.

Kingdom Hospital, a mini-series based on a Lars Von Trier series of the same name, also features a scene based on King's accident. A main character gets hit by a van when the driver is distracted by a dog. In other parallels, the hospital is located in Lewiston, the same hospital Stephen King was airlifted to after his accident. The van driver is seen later in the series swallowing unmarked pills out of a bottle, possibly in reference to Bryan Smith's death.

Some residents of Bangor, ME (Stephen King's primary residence), sided with the author after the accident, since they were aware of Bryan Smith's driving record and his apparent indifference at the scene of the accident. Others believed King was using his celebrity status to his advantage, and many of the letters the Bangor Daily News received in response to Smith's indictment thought his treatment was unfair. News director Charles Horne commented, "What a lot of people were saying was Bryan Smith made the mistake of hitting a celebrity."

As a result of the accident, Stephen King suffered a wide gash on his forehead, broken ribs, broken bones in his right hip and leg, and a punctured lung. His injuries were so bad, he had to be airlifted to another hospital for treatment. The author himself described much of his situation: The extent of those lower-leg injuries necessitated two deep incisions—they’re called medial and lateral fasciotomies—to release the pressure caused by my exploded tibia and also to allow blood to flow back into my lower leg. If I hadn’t had the fasciotomies (or if they had been delayed), it probably would have been necessary to amputate my leg. My right knee was split almost directly down the middle, and I suffered an acetabular fracture of the right hip—a serious derailment, in other words—and an open femoral intertrochanteric fracture in the same area. My spine was chipped in eight places. Four ribs were broken. My right collarbone held, but the flesh above it had been stripped raw. The laceration in my scalp took almost thirty stitches. He spent three weeks at the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and endured five operations. King was required to wear a metal device on his leg for some time. He once joked about decorating it with jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween.

Stephen King and his wife Tabitha are known philanthropists. They run the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, and they give generously to other charity organizations. After the accident, King gave $240,000 in charity funds to the rescue service and medical centers that helped him. This was seen by some during Bryan Smith's court case as a conflict of interest, strengthening King's influence in the town of Bangor. After the accident, King also created the Haven Foundation to help other writers, artists, and freelancers unable to work due to injury or illness.

Although Bryan Smith was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and driving to endanger, he pleaded guilty to a lesser sentence and received only six months jail time (which was later suspended). Stephen King was (obviously) upset, taunting the lawyers for not trying to take Smith's driver's license away for good. King did not have kind words for the driver behind the accident. He is quoted as saying, "Call it fate, call it God... But what you're left with is this guy, who has the IQ of a tomato soup can. An empty tomato soup can."

During an interview with Bryant Gumbel a few years after the accident, Stephen King noted he and Bryan Smith were both given the same middle name: Edwin. It was a strange twist of fate that brought them together, and it's interesting to note that King seemed to humanize Smith more after he passed away, finding little similarities between them.

Bryan Smith was a father of three and twice divorced. He was in almost constant pain, requiring painkillers to manage his agony and a cane to walk. Stephen King, of course, was addicted to cocaine and alcohol for a good portion of his life, and also has three children. Smith claimed to have suffered harsher treatment by people for his actions simply because Stephen King is a celebrity. He eventually accepted responsibility for the accident and apologized to King, but was heard to comment, "I know I hit him. I didn't mean to. Somebody can't accept that. Why can't they accept that it was an accident?"