A man was struck and pinned underneath a car on Sabattus Street in Lewiston after fleeing a nearby grocery store from which he attempted to shoplift, police said.

Police responded to a car accident at the intersection of Sabattus Street and Highland Spring Road around 2 p.m., said Lt. Derek St. Laurent, a spokesperson for the Lewiston Police Department.

There, officers found Ronnie Clark, 46, pinned underneath a vehicle, which was driven by 61-year-old Kenneth Floyd of Greene. St. Laurent said Clark has lived in Lewiston in the past, but he did not know where the man currently resides.

“The car went right over him,” St. Laurent said Tuesday afternoon. “He was trapped under the vehicle for a period of time. He was conscious and alert while under the vehicle.”

The crash occurred just a few minutes after employees at Hannaford supermarket, located at the intersection, called the department to report a male shoplifting from the store, St. Laurent said.

“The suspect of the shoplifting was the victim of the car accident,” St. Laurent said. “It sounds like he was fleeing from Hannaford prior to being struck.”

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Emergency crews, including members of the Lewiston Fire Department, borrowed jacks from a nearby garage to lift the vehicle from off of Clark.

Clark was transferred to Central Maine Medical Center, but St. Laurent did not know what condition the man was in.

Sabattus Street is one of Lewiston’s major throughways, St. Laurent said, and there does not appear to be a crosswalk where Clark attempted to cross the road.

The crash remains under investigation, and the department will separately investigate the shoplifting complaint, St. Laurent said.

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