Huron High School student hit by car while crossing street to bus stop
A 15-year-old Huron High School student was sent to the hospital after being struck by a car while crossing Ellsworth Road to get to the bus stop Thursday.
Pittsfield Township Deputy Police Chief Gordy Schick said the boy was crossing Ellsworth Road near Crystal Creek Drive when a vehicle traveling eastbound struck him. The boy suffered leg fractures and abrasions, but his injuries are not life-threatening, Schick said.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene at about 6:43 a.m., Schick said.
The vehicle was described as a Lincoln and was driven by a 28-year-old Ann Arbor man, Schick said. The incident is still under investigation.
The speed limit on Ellsworth Road near Crystal Creek Drive is 45 miles per hour. There is a traffic light at the intersection.
Ann Arbor Public Schools spokeswoman Liz Margolis said the school has been in touch with the family, but Margolis did not have a firm update on the boy’s condition Thursday morning.
Huron High School administrators have made counselors available to students who ride buses 137 and 138, which serve the University Palisades and the Crystal Creek subdvisions and the area near them. Margolis said there may be an additional need for students to talk to the counselors because it's exam week at Huron.
“They will make any accommodations necessary for those kids,” Margolis said.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Carole
Fri, Jan 27, 2012 : 2:38 p.m.
I truly hope that the student is a-okay. Also, hope that the driver is okay because I can't imagine how I would feel if I hit any individual. I leave to go to work about the same time as the students are walking to catch the bus in Scio Farms, and oft times, they walk in the middle of the streets with dark clothing. So, knowing this, I go slow and watch. We all have to take responsible actions to be safe-pedestrians and drivers aloke.
Major
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 10:54 p.m.
I'm wondering if this kid even crossed at the light. I see people there all the time crossing..or should I say J-walking close to, but not in, the crosswalk. Hope he's OK!
Orangecrush2000
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 9:26 p.m.
Glad to hear that the student should recover. I hope he recovers, quickly. Would an answer to a problem like this be a "pedestrian bridge." If not, why not?
Angry Sasquatch
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 8:28 p.m.
I know it's a township, but perhaps it's time for Pittsfield to consider adding street lighting to their many busy stretches of roads.
Judy
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 7:33 p.m.
I see that at least one other person has commented that a woman was driving instead of a man, but that detail was not corrected. I also was disappointed at the slow response time as the fire station is just a little bit down the street and I was on hold with 911 for quite sometime before they arrived. At the scene there was talk that the driver had been on her cell phone, but I cannot be sure. I have never seen a crossing guard in the area at that hour.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 7:36 p.m.
The information I have from police has said the driver involved was a man from Ann Arbor. I have been trying to get back in touch with Pittsfield police for a few hours, and when I receive an update I will ask them about this. At this time, I'm going to stay with the information given to me by police.
Kboogy
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 6:42 p.m.
I was a witness to this accident and pulled over to assist with the young mad after he was hit. I was a tad disappointed in the response time it took for the fire department to arrive, considering they are almost right across the street from the incident. However, once they arrived they took very good care of him, made sure his parents were called and got him into the ambulance quickly. I'm so glad to hear that he will recover fully because I didn't know how severe his injuries were at the scene and with the way he was screaming I was truly concerned. This was a horrible accident to say the least.
cinnabar7071
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 5:50 p.m.
The new standard of not looking both ways before crossing is going to cost someone their life. I so glad we still used that standard when I was young.
boo
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 5:10 p.m.
amazing, already 6 or 7 comments and not one stating they are glad the kid is going to be ok. sad commentary isn't it.
cinnabar7071
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 5:54 p.m.
It is funny tho that you didn't either.
cinnabar7071
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 5:53 p.m.
Its clear by reading the story he will be OK for the short term, but if he keeps up this behavior he may come out on the losing end someday. "The boy suffered leg fractures and abrasions, but his injuries are not life-threatening"
rs
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 4:46 p.m.
They have a crossing guard right near there. Shouldn't waited for him to stop traffic I guess.
Kboogy
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 6:44 p.m.
This was for high school students so there are no crossing guards for them and he was not crossing at the light but in the middle of the street. That early in the am it was dark and he probably misjudged how far away the car was and with his dark clothing, she was unable to see him until it was too late.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 4:42 p.m.
Due to conflicting information about the bus stops in this portion of Pittsfield Township, I've deleted the comment from Liz Margolis saying the student wasn't assigned to this particular bus and the district was not sure why he was there.
Kboogy
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 6:46 p.m.
By the way it was a woman that hit him, not a man
Joe_Citizen
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 4:19 p.m.
now that's a new one to get out of exams! Kidding, It doesn't matter what the indicator said, and it doesn't matter what the kid was wearing. The morning commute is and always has been a rat race to get to work. Driver are texting and talking on their phones while speeding to get to work on time. People need to be accountable for there driving habits...
jcj
Fri, Jan 27, 2012 : 2:18 a.m.
You can't give the right of way to someone you can't see! Your argument is futile and foolish!
Joe_Citizen
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 11:10 p.m.
The law states that drivers are responsible for there driving. I don't care otherwise. People have become accustom to doing there hair and so on, while racing to work. I know, because I'm there every morning. The dark clothed kid crossing against the cross walk is about one of the stupidest things someone can do, I do agree with you. But, we have to look out for the challenged children/kids too. I'm not saying that this kid is stupid, but stupid is what stupid does. It's fashionable at school or some crazy thing. But yes the pedestrian has the right of way anywhere in this country.
Kboogy
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 6:39 p.m.
I was a witness to this accident and actually the young man did not cross at the light/crosswalk. He was going in the middle of the street past the light. He was wearing dark clothing and honestly the poor woman that hit him probably did not see him until she got right up on him. Furthermore, no student is supposed to cross the street to get to their bus stop so we don't know why he was crossing where he was. It was very traumatic to the kids standing at the bus stop who witnessed it. So I would understand if some of them were slightly traumatized from the event and not able to focus on their exams.
jcj
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 5:47 p.m.
No one has been more outspoken about driving carefully than myself. However to say crossing against the light wearing all black at 6:43 am in the dark is OK. That is a ludicrous ill advised statement!
leezee
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 5:25 p.m.
So.....if the indicator said not to walk, it's okay to walk anyway? I just want to clarify because, honestly, your remarks make no sense to me at all.
Ignatz
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 4:42 p.m.
It does matter if the child was wearing black and crossing against the light. There's a high degree of culpability there. Not all drivers are as distracted as you think. I make it a point to pay attention and yet I come close to hitting people wearing dark clothes and walking in the road or crossing it in the dark. One would think that since they are more prone to injusries, that perdestrians and bicyclists would want to be seen and take more care, but some don't.
Mathew Jones
Thu, Jan 26, 2012 : 4:07 p.m.
I knew the student and the eyewitness told me this morning the story of watching it happen! According to the eye witness he was wearing all black and was not supposed to walk by the indicator