A man living at a residential care facility in Farmingdale was seriously injured Thursday night when he walked into the path of a car driving northbound on Maine Avenue, police said.
The man, 55-year-old Reginald Ellis, walked out of the care facility, Halldale Manor, around 9 p.m., then stepped into the road and was struck by a Honda sedan driving toward Augusta, said State Trooper Greg Stevens.
Afterward, Ellis was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center for injuries that probably included broken bones, Stevens said. On Friday afternoon, a hospital official described Ellis’ condition as “serious.”
“He walked out in front of the car, and the operator couldn’t stop in time,” Stevens said. “We did the whole reconstruction, (which showed) the operator was not speeding. He was actually driving under the speed limit when it occurred.”
Stevens didn’t know why Ellis walked into the road, but based on interviews with passers-by who saw the crash, he didn’t think Ellis intended to be hit by a car.
“He just left and walked right out,” Stevens said. “I don’t know if (Ellis and another person) were fighting or what the story was. … I don’t know if he got discombobulated and walked out in front of the car.”
The case remains under investigation, but no charges are pending for either Ellis or the driver, Christopher Hunter, 44, of Augusta, Stevens said.
Hunter was driving under the speed limit and made a good effort to stop after his car first struck Ellis, Stevens said. Ellis went over the hood and hit the windshield before rolling off the car, but Hunter hit the brakes and managed to avoid hitting him a second time.
“Speed was not a factor, and that’s probably what saved (Ellis),” Stevens said. Hunter “drove at a prudent speed, and he did everything a driver could do in that circumstance.”
A representative of Halldale Manor, Jessica Poulin, declined to confirm or deny whether a resident was involved in the crash last night. The facility has 26 beds and is one of 11 residential care centers that are operated around the state by DLTC Healthcare of Rockland, according to its website.
According to Stevens, employees of the facility were trying to get Ellis to return when he walked into the road.
Earlier Thursday night, there was another crash very close to that location on Maine Avenue, in which a car apparently struck a sign, but Stevens did not respond to that accident and couldn’t provide information about it.
Rose Webster, Farmingdale’s town clerk, said she learned about both crashes when a state trooper left some information related to the earlier one at the Town Office on Friday morning.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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