I drove down to North Avenue, down to Lincoln memorial and back around to the park and ride. There were squad cars everywhere. It appeared to be an accident as there was a white vehicle pulled over in front of Alterra.
When I got on the bus the driver was obviously shaken. He explained that a girl had been struck by a car going southbound while she was crossing the road to go to her car. This is not surprising as I've witnessed this more often than not. Students rush the road without looking whether or not they have the right-away. I've actually called students (and professors) out on campus when they EXPECT vehicles to stop for them because they want to walk across the cross walk NOW even if it makes more sense for them to allow the car through and then walk after it passes.
This is slightly different than the campus cross-walks as it has the hand/walker sign and is at a "stop-and-go lighted" intersection.
I felt so so bad for the bus driver - he's one of my favorites. He kept saying, "I tried to stop her. I tried to warn her. I tried to let her know..." he was stating over and over in different ways that he tried to let her know that she didn't have the walk sign, that the light was green for traffic going the same way... You could see him replaying the scenario over and over in his head. The bus company should have relieved him. I do hope he is able to get free counseling.
Later in the day I tweeted to the three big network news stations in Milwaukee asking if they had an update on the girl who was hit on Lincoln Memorial Drive. @Fox6now was the only station to respond. They informed me (and everyone else on Twitter) that she was at the hospital and they were waiting for the police report. @todaysTMJ4 and @WISN12news did not respond.
This is a different blog for a different day.
The second half to this days story is that I attended a WikiLeaks presentation by our interim provost Johannes Britz. The event started at 5:30. I got to the mall around 5:28... While at the event @Fox6now reported that a man jumped from the third story in a suicide attempt.
I thought it very eery I arrived someplace just after something horrible happened.
I met Tiffany and her friend Andrea at Transfer Pizza for dinner and there was a sqad car parked outside. Thank goodness they were there for "lunch" at 7 p.m. and to flirt with one of the servers...