MADISON -- Police were pursuing clues late Thursday into the cause of death of a local man who was run over as he lay on Park Street, a couple of miles east of downtown earlier in the day.

Anthony Dussex, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident just after 1 a.m. Thursday, Police Chief Barry Moores said.

"The individual was lying in the road and he got run over by a motor vehicle," Moores said.

A bouquet of flowers had been placed Thursday at the site of the accident, which occurred about a half mile from the intersection of Old County Road, River Road and state Route 43, which turns into Park Street. "We're trying to backtrack the last 24 hours in his life, trying to determine what his activity was, where he was, what he was doing, if he was tired," Moores said. "We're trying to find out why he was where he was."

Moores said Dussex lived on Trolley Line Drive, a side road off the Thurston Hill end of Route 43, more than a mile east of the accident site.

Dussex recently lived in the Cornville/Skowhegan area, the chief said.

He said Noah Weston of Madison was driving his black, 1986 Volvo west into town on Route 43. The car struck Dussex, who was lying in the travel lane of the road.

Investigating officer Chris Crawford said Weston tried to avoid hitting Dussex, but was unsuccessful. "He said he saw the object in the road, wasn't sure what it was, tried to avoid it," Crawford said.

Moores and Crawford said they were allowing the Dussex family time to absorb the shock of the accident Thursday before asking them too many questions.

Among the hard questions, Moores conceded, is whether Dussex was alive when he was struck by the car.

"That's what we're trying to investigate," he said. "That's what we're trying to find out."

Madison police have contacted the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta for a possible autopsy.

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534 ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com