Student Hit By Car, Critically Injured

A Pforzheimer House junior was critically injured last night when she was struck by a car on Eliot Street.

Shira Palmer-Sherman '02 was transported to Mount Auburn Hospital just after the accident, which occurred around 7:45 p.m. She was admitted to the intensive care unit around 11 p.m. As of 2 a.m., Palmer-Sherman was unconscious and listed by hospital officials in critical condition.

The accident occurred in front of Charlie's Kitchen. Both Cambridge Police Department (CPD) and Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) officers responded to the scene, said CPD Sergeant Robert Cooper. Cooper said he did not know the nature of Palmer-Sherman's injuries, but he called the accident "serious."

The driver of the vehicle was arrested by CPD, though possibly on charges unrelated to the accident, Cooper said. CPD officials would not release the driver's name or the nature of the charges filed against him yesterday evening.

M. Suzanne McCarthy, co-master of Pforzheimer House and Allston Burr Senior Tutor Dirk M. Killen '82 were transported to the hospital by HUPD to be with Palmer-Sherman. More than a dozen of her friends also gathered in the intensive care unit waiting room.

Palmer-Sherman's parents were notified of the accident and drove from their home in New Jersey to Cambridge last night. They arrived around 1:30 a.m.

Hillel Rabbi Shai A. Held '94 was also at the hospital last night, as was Associate Dean of Harvard College David P. Illingworth '71.

Palmer-Sherman is a history and literature concentrator and co-chair of the Harvard Hillel Dramatic Society. She is active in Harvard's theater community and at Hillel.

--Staff writers Parker R. Conrad '02, Justin D. Gest '04 and Garrett M. Graff '03 contributed to the reporting of this story.