Crash victim was local man on his way to work

By RICK GREEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

BARNSTEAD — An accident involving a car that ran off a straight road and landed upside down in a creek occurred less than a mile from the home of the 51-year-old man killed in the wreck, police said Thursday.

Police Chief Paul Poirier identified the man who died in the Wednesday crash as Stephen Bognar.

The incident likely occurred about 5 a.m., which is when Bognar typically left his home on Bow Mills Road for the hour-long commute to his electronics job in Londonderry, the chief said. A passing motorist reported seeing the damaged vehicle four hours later.

Bognar covered just one minute, or one-third of a mile, of his drive to work when his 2008 black convertible Chrysler Sebring crossed the oncoming lane and plunged 12 feet off the rural road, landing on its roof in the waist-deep icy creek.

Tire tracks in the mud and a flattened mailbox in the 300 block of Peacham Road showed the route of the car before it flew into the creek. Poirier and Officer Dan Shapiro broke a side window, pulled Bognar from the submerged passenger compartment and attempted CPR.

The cause of the crash is not clear, but Poirier said roads were icy that morning and there were other accident reports in the area.

Bognar lived with his brother, Michael Bognar, who said he was awaiting the results of an autopsy to see if any medical issues might have contributed to the crash.

He said his brother worked almost 25 years as an electronics assembler, solderer and trouble shooter. Stephen Bognar worked for L-3 Warrior Systems, a defense contractor.

"He was always dedicated to his work, committed to his work, a real professional," Michael Bognar said.

He said he and his brother are from Trenton, New Jersey. They moved to New Hampshire in 1996.

"His hobbies were drawing, animation," he said. "He liked to come up with characters. He liked working on old cars, doing his own mechanical work, replacing parts himself when it was needed."