Junior hit by car on The Alameda

By Rachel Schwartz

Junior Mandela Gardner was injured after being hit in a crosswalk by a car early Jan. 17 while he was walking to Safeway.

Gardner was crossing The Alameda between Sobrato Hall and Safeway in a crosswalk early Wednesday morning when he was hit by a white PT Cruiser traveling north, away from the university. He broke a bone in his leg and was cut on his head.

The driver stopped and waited for police to arrive, however, no further information regarding the driver is available. The police report regarding the incident is in the process of being filed, according to Santa Clara police Sgt. Kurt Clark.

"What I remember is that I was crossing the street, and then my head was on the windshield, and then the car stopped, and then I was on the ground," said Gardner, who was on his way to the store for a snack when he was hit.

Several students were nearby and helped Gardner out of the street and contacted police and paramedics. Gardner was taken to Valley Medical Center for treatment; he received three staples in his head to close a cut above his right ear and suffered a broken left fibula.

A Santa Clara police officer who was in the area arrived on the scene quickly and was shortly followed by more police officers and paramedics.

Gardner saw the car coming down the street but assumed that the driver would stop for him to cross since he was in a crosswalk, he said. Pedestrians have the right of way when they are in crosswalks, according to the California Driver Handbook issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"Even late at night, I've never had any trouble crossing the street, but I always use the crosswalk anyway," Gardner said. He walks to Safeway several nights a week and had previously never had a problem.

Santa Clara police is handing the investigation; Campus Safety was not involved in responding to the incident.

Santa Clara police does not have collision statistics compiled for the location where Gardner was hit.

"There's always concerns about people crossing, but that's not the busiest intersection in the city," Clark said.

This is the second traffic collision in the past year that has occurred along the section of The Alameda that runs along campus.

On July 12, 2006, a man died after having a heart attack and losing control of his car, crashing head-on into a pick-up.

A man was killed by a car in the same intersection on Park Avenue on May 10, 2006.

Contact Rachel Schwartz at (408) 554-4546 or rschwartz@scu.edu.