A car struck freshman Claire Fidelman as she crossed 20th Street at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. She was picked up by an ambulance and treated at Georgetown Hospital for treatment of bruises and lacerations and returned home the same night.
I was crossing the street and I looked right and left, she said. When I looked left the car was really close to me.
Honestly all I remember is seeing the lights of the car and feeling the impact kind of, and then lying on the ground, she said. Apparently I was airborn.
Walking from Thurston Hall toward campus Fidelman crossed at the corner of 20th and F streets at a red light, for which she received a $10 jaywalking citation from the Metropolitan Police. Fidelman was struck by a car headed north on 20th St.
Fidelman said she was told the car was traveling about 15 miles per hour. The driver, who was not charged with a violation, stopped to assist Fidelman, she said.
I was crossing the street and I heard them beep their horn and slam on their brakes and I saw her get hit, said junior Rich Ernsberger, a resident of Francis Scott Key Hall, who witnessed the accident. I came (to FSK) and I called (University Police). The car got her on the knee and she sort of went up over the hood and over the side.
UPD responded quickly, Ernsberger and Fidelman said.
Fidelman was taken to Georgetown Hospital after the ambulance driver was turned away from the GW Hospital.
I heard them say on the radio `This girl is profusely bleeding, we need a bed,’ she said. They said they had no beds. The ambulance did a U-turn in the road and took me to Georgetown.
At the hospital Fidelman received four stitches in the back of her head to treat an injury that resulted from hitting the street. Her left calf, which was severely bruised, was also bandaged.
Traffic safety is not a new issue on GW’s campus.
A resident of the Hall on Virginia Avenue was struck by a car last September and sustained minor bruises, according to a Sept. 9, 1999 article in The Hatchet.
GW Law School student Seth Wadley was struck by a drunk driver Dec. 19, 1998, at the 1100 block of G Street NW, according to the Jan. 18, 1999 Hatchet. Wadley was 24 years old, and died a day after the driver ran a red light.
Nineteen-year-old Adam Jarrett, a GW sophomore, was killed in a traffic accident near the Rock Creek Parkway and K Street Sept. 16, 1993, according to a Sept. 20, 1993 Hatchet. At the time of the publication, it was not known if alcohol was involved in the incident.
Fidelman advised students to exercise extra caution when crossing streets, even if they are following a friend.
Make sure that light says `walk,’ she said. Make sure you look for yourself.
