By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – A north Jay man, who was found more than two hours after he crashed off Route 17 late Wednesday afternoon, remained hospitalized in Lewiston early Thursday evening.

According to a Central Maine Medical Center nursing supervisor, Charlie Niedner, 50, was listed in fair condition.

Investigating Dixfield Patrolman Jeffrey Howe said Thursday afternoon that Niedner was heading home on Route 17 when the crash occurred at about 4 p.m. near Severy Hill Road in east Dixfield.

“No one knew there had been a wreck,” Howe said, until the badly injured man crawled from his car near enough to Louis Webster’s house to be heard.

When Howe arrived, Niedner “was conscious, but very confused. He was very hypothermic. He had numerous facial cuts, a concussion, there was heavy bleeding, and he had possible multiple neck fractures,” he added.

Webster said early Thursday evening he learned that despite the neck injury prognosis, Niedner’s neck wasn’t injured.

NorthStar Ambulance took Niedner first to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington to stabilize him, Howe said. Niedner was then taken to the Lewiston hospital.

Based on marks at the scene, Howe said, Niedner started to drift off the road in his 1984 BMW car.

“He tried to jerk it back into the center of the road, over-corrected, and went into a mild skid that he wasn’t able to correct,” he said.

The car slid down an embankment and struck two trees. Impact from the first tree collapsed the passenger side of the car; the second, collapsed the car’s front end.

The car continued rolling on all four wheels before stopping in Webster’s backyard atop his partially-buried septic tank, more than 200 feet from the road, Webster said.

“He cleaned out a swing-set on the lawn and deer fencing around the garden,” he added.

Howe said that based on evidence at the scene “and all of the blood in the vehicle, it looks like he was in it for quite some time, probably unconscious.”

“At some point, he crawled out the shattered driver’s side window,” he added.

Niedner crawled almost 100 feet toward Webster’s house, before Webster discovered him when he arrived home from work at 6:30 p.m. and called responders.

“He was moaning and crying out for help,” Webster said.

The hypothermia was both a blessing and a curse, Webster said, because Niedner was barely able to talk, but the frigid temperature slowed his bleeding.

“The man was lucky. If I hadn’t have heard him, he probably would have died. He had bad, bad head gashes, and his clothes were completely blood-soaked,” he said.

Webster said Niedner “was begging for heat and help, and then he recognized me and started calling my name.”

That was when Webster realized he knew the man, having worked with him for a previous employer.

Soon, Wilton police, Howe, NorthStar, east Dixfield firefighters, and an M/T Pockets tow truck from Dixfield arrived.

“It was bedlam here for about two hours. There were 15 to 20 emergency people here,” Webster said.

Howe said he didn’t think speed was a factor. The road, which is posted at 50 mph, was also clear at the time of the crash.