Bridgton, Maine (AP) - Horror writer Stephen King, who was
seriously injured when he was struck by a minivan on June 19,
confirmed he has the van in his possession, a newspaper said
Thursday.
"Yes, we've got the van, and I'm going to take a
sledgehammer and beat the hell out of it!" King told The
Bridgton News.
King, 52, visited the weekly newspaper to meet Nancy Talbot,
who stepped forward this month to say she witnessed the crash
that left King with a broken hip, broken ribs and a collapsed
lung.
Talbot was interviewed by an investigator last week about
the accident, and the information she provided will be
presented to a grand jury, police said. The grand jury's
session begins Sept. 30.
The driver, Bryan Smith, 42, of Fryeburg, said in an earlier
interview that King's lawyer and two other men paid $1,500 cash
for the 1985 Dodge Caravan that he was driving when he hit
King.
Smith said he was distracted by his Rottweiler when he hit
King, who was walking on the shoulder in North Lovell.
No one has said why King wanted the van, and his lawyer,
Warren Silver of Bangor, did not immediately return a call
Thursday.
King has kept his sense of humor throughout the ordeal. He
joked that he must wear wide-bottomed skateboard pants to cover
a metal device that surrounds his injured leg.
If he still has the contraption on his leg at Halloween, he
said he plans to decorate it with jack o' lanterns.
