A University of Alabama student driving south on Stadium Drive struck another student crossing the road on a long board at approximately 2 p.m. Monday afternoon.
Neither the skateboarder nor the driver have been identified, but the accident sent the student who was struck to DCH Regional Medical Center with injuries that University spokesman Chris Bryant said did not appear to be life-threatening.
“Right off the bat, I saw blood on his pants and flowing from both wrists,” said Shelby Bessellieu, a student and witness to the accident. “Then I noticed the windshield of the car he collided with. It was cratered big time, so I knew the guy hit it hard.”
Bessellieu also said two witnesses turned into first responders at the scene. First, she said, a nurse ran to aid the victim and said that the bleeding from his wrists had to be stemmed, so a male student took his shirt off, cut strips off it with a pocket knife and offered it for use as a basic tourniquet before emergency workers arrived.
Witnesses said both the driver and the student he hit were shaken up and scared, but were conscious and lucid soon after the accident.
Scott Brooks, a senior majoring in business, said the student, before he was loaded into an ambulance, had a neck brace fitted around him, his leg immobilized in a stint and heavy bandages on both hands.
No injuries have been made official, but witnesses said the accident broke the student’s left leg and caused a compound fracture of his wrist.
Students on the scene said the response time of emergency officials was nearly immediate, and that the student was treated on the scene and transported away less than 20 minutes after the accident. Stadium Drive was temporarily closed following the incident to allow emergency officials to respond to the accident and clean the scene after the student was safely away in the ambulance.
Erin Moulson, a junior majoring in advertising, was two cars behind the one that struck the student and left the scene to make room for emergency vehicles. Too often, she said, accidents are caused on campus by a lack of awareness.
“I think that a growing problem on our campus is lack of awareness,” Moulson said. “I know that I’ve been walking through a crosswalk when I have the right of way and have almost been hit too many times to count. We all need to be more conscious of our driving and walking so accidents like this don’t keep happening.”
