Meg Itoh
News Editor
A student was injured in front of Gault Library on Monday, Feb. 15 on Memorial Walkway after a car struck/ran over the student’s foot. Steve Glick, director of Security and Protective Services (SPS), said the driver thought Memorial Walkway was a road and was driving east when the incident occurred.
“The student was transported to Wooster Community Hospital ER by the Wooster FD medic unit. The driver was cited by the Wooster Police for driving on a sidewalk. The student was treated and released,” he said.
Maddie Smith ’18, who witnessed the incident, said she was walking down the sidewalk when she heard what sounded like a car.
“I noticed [the driver] was smoking and just driving…I [was] really confused because there’s this random man driving and there’s these three guys walking up ahead,” she said. “And the man [did] not stop. He just [kept] driving and he kind of [bumped] one of the guys in the leg and he [tripped]…the driver [stopped] and [put] down his windows.”
Smith said the student who was struck and his friends spoke with the driver, stating that they wanted a picture of his license plate number while explaining that Memorial Walkway is a sidewalk.
The incident on Monday came only a week after another incident near Beall Ave.
On Feb. 11, SPS sent an email notifying students that “passengers in a vehicle described as a dark 4-door sedan yelled something at a student crossing Beall Ave. in the Lowry Crosswalk sometime between 9:50 to 10:00 p.m. The student reported that one of the passengers, a white male, also waved what appeared to be a handgun as the vehicle drove by.”
Glick said the number of reported incidents remain about the same as last year, and the incidents are primarily harassment such as name calling, whistling and comments of a sexual nature. “Obviously, the most recent incident in which a firearm was reported is of a major concern,” he said.
“We will continue to patrol and be visible in an effort to prevent such incidents. Remember that we cannot make stops of vehicles, so we have to be able to find and obtain identifying information of any vehicles and pass it to the police department,” said Glick. “That is why it is important that students call SPS as soon as possible after an incident.”