NORWAY – A 19-year-old Norway man is expected to recover from injuries he sustained Thursday afternoon after he ran into Main Street to allegedly get away from a fight and collided with a van.

Norway police Sgt. Jim Ventresca said Levi Bryant of 16 Cottage St. apartment 1, collided with a van as he attempted to run from an altercation involving his sister, niece and two men outside an apartment building near Main and Paris streets around 2:15 p.m.

Ventresca said witnesses told him Bryant hit the windshield, rolled over the passenger side and landed on his back and head on the street in back of the van.

Angelica Dechello, 18, of West Paris, the driver of the maroon 1998  Dodge Carvan, said the man jumped in front of her van as she headed east on Main Street.

“It looked like they were about to hit him and he ran away,” said a teary-eyed Dechello, who was being comforted by her mother, Ardith, while police tried to piece together the accident.

Bryant was taken to nearby Stephens Memorial Hospital for treatment and later to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he is being treated for a possible bruised lung, Ventresca said. Bryant’s injuries are not life threatening, he said.

Ventresca, who is interviewing witnesses, said Thursday night that it appears there was an exchange of words between Bryant, his sister and neice, and two brothers who were visiting their father at the 206 Main St. apartment. One of the brothers may have said something inappropriate to Bryant’s sister, who then allegedly punched one of the men. No weapons were ever shown and at that point both the sister and Bryant started to run, he said. 

“They were angry,” said Marisa Winningham of 206 Main St. of the two visiting men. Winningham said there was a fight and the two men appeared to chase the victim. Although she did not see the victim get hit, Winningham said she ran into the road after she heard the commotion and saw the victim lying motionless in the street by the van.

“It looked like he was dead” she said.

Ventresca said Bryant was conscious when he arrived.

He said he does not expect any arrests to be made at this time.

ldixon@sunjournal.com