AUBURN — A Lewiston man hurt in a motorcycle crash on Route 4 Thursday remained hospitalized on Friday.

Steven Elwell, 48, was being treated at Central Maine Medical Center.

At about 5 p.m. Thursday, Elwell crashed his Honda into the back of a van driven by a woman who was turning into Roy's All Steak Hamburgers, police said.

A man who was riding inside the van at the time of the crash said Elwell was never pinned beneath the van nor did he lose his helmet in the crash as reported by witnesses on Thursday.

Rick Bachelder said the driver of the van was waiting for southbound traffic to pass so she could turn into Roy's when they were struck from behind.

"I just heard a quick screech that lasted maybe half a second and then we got plowed into," Bachelder said. "I thought it was a truck that hit us."

No one inside the van was hurt, though Bachelder said he was jostled and his eyeglasses were knocked from his face.

He said that when he got out of the van minutes later, the victim was down in the roadway between 8 and 10 feet from his bike.

"There was a gentleman out there telling him, 'Don't move; don't move,'" Bachelder said. "He was not pinned under the van. The helmet was taken off by the rescue people."

Both Elwell and the driver of the van, Jill Welch of Wayne, had been heading north. The crash remained under investigation by Auburn police, who said neither speed nor alcohol appeared to be a factor.