A University of Baltimore student was hit by a city bus in the intersection of St. Paul and 33rd Streets on Friday evening, temporarily halting traffic in the thoroughfare and drawing a crowd of onlookers until the scene was cleared.
It was 6:50 p.m. when the victim, 20-year-old Hillary Walsh, was hit while crossing St. Paul toward Barnes and Noble by an MTA Route 3 bus, number 3019, crossing the intersection eastbound on 33rd. An ambulance transported her to Johns Hopkins Hospital; though she was conscious following the collision, her condition, at this point, remains unclear.
The bus, which was heading crosstown, remained parked in the middle of the intersection after passengers disembarked.
"Everyone seemed to be calming down [by the time we arrived] but it was still pretty startling," sophomore Dani DiPersia said, standing on the street corner outside of Subway.
She gestured toward the center of the intersection, where a pair of plastic lime green sunglasses and a sneaker - both the victim's - lastun front of the stalled bus. The windshield of the vehicle was cracked but intact.
Law enforcement and traffic officials attempted to piece together the details of the situation. Officers from Baltimore City Police and Maryland Transportation Authority arrived on the scene shortly after Campus Safety and Security.
"The bus was stopped, dispatching passengers, and [Walsh] walked out in front of it. At this time, we don't know who had the right of way," Sargeant Charles Benjamin II of Campus Police said, as he directed near-stagnant traffic around the collision site.
The bus' passengers, though, seemed more definitive in their judgments.
"The bus came through the red light and blew the horn at the car taking a left [through the intersection]," Baltimore resident Delano Bailey said after disembarking, warming his hands with a cup of coffee. "I've been a driver for 42 years and I might not be the best, but I'm better than [the driver]."
Reginald Hairston, another Baltimorean on the bus, offered another perspective: Walsh, he ventured, was reckless.
"She started running out in front of the bus," he said, "and the bus slammed on the brakes, but it was too late."
"My God," he added, "it was loud."
He stood on the paved median between Subway and Bradford Apartments with a worried-looking young woman - Joella Allen, 19, a Hopkins sophomore and Walsh's companion at the time of the accident.
