LONG ISLAND, Maine — The state medical examiner’s office on Thursday said the death of a 59-year-old Long Island man whose body was discovered in his driveway Wednesday was likely accidental and the result of a fall outside his home.
An autopsy on Thursday indicated that Steven Michael Hanson probably fell outside his Island Avenue home some time late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning and suffered a head injury, according to a release from Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. The final determination awaits results of a toxicology test.
Hanson’s body was discovered in his driveway by two men walking to the ferry about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. Detectives said it appeared he had dragged himself into the driveway before being overcome by his injuries, according to McCausland.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, which provides public safety services for the island of about 200 year-round residents located about six miles from Portland in Casco Bay, received a call from the men about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Lt. Tom Williams said. Based on information provided by the men, the sheriff’s office immediately sent a team of patrol deputies and detectives to the scene.
“The information was that we had a deceased male by the side of the road, and the witness observations were that there was a lot of blood evidence,” Williams said Thursday.
That information prompted the sheriff’s office to call in the Maine State Police, which sent a half-dozen detectives to the island. The detectives, led by Lt. Brian McDonough, spent most of Wednesday at Hanson’s Island Avenue home and talking to family members, McCausland said.
“We reached out, trying to retrace his footsteps within the last 24 hours,” McCausland said. “That was done through a series of interviews.”
On Thursday, the tiny Casco Bay town of Long Island grieved for the man who worked as a handyman on the island when he wasn’t lobstering.
“I didn’t know anybody that didn’t like him,” Long Island resident Peachie Stevens, 71, said of Hanson.
Stevens, who runs Peachie’s Golf Cart Rentals on Beach Avenue, was born and raised on Long Island.
“He would do anything for anybody and not expect a dime,” she said.
Hanson was not a native islander, Stevens said. He lived on Island Road with his wife and 14-year-old son, who were not on the island Tuesday night, according to Stevens.
Stevens said that earlier this year, the tight-knit island community endured the sudden death of 18-year-old Benjamin LaMontagne, who died on Feb. 22 at his Long Island home after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacteria after oral surgery.
Meanwhile, Stevens said residents are grieving for Hanson as well.
“We feel terrible — just terrible,” she said. “I feel very bad for his family. Everybody does.”