Sophomore Struck Outside Quincy in Two-Car Accident

A sport utility vehicle involved in a two car accident struck an undergraduate on the sidewalk outside Quincy House Friday night at about 10:30 p.m.

Joshua S. Carson '02 was walking past the corner of Mill Street and Plympton Street to a friend's room in Adams House when the driver of a Honda Passport 4WD ignored a stop sign on Mill Street, hitting a Chevrolet Blazer.

The Blazer, which was passing through the intersection coming from Memorial Drive, was knocked off course and struck Carson.

Carson said he was thrown about five feet in the air, landing on a grassy patch next to Quincy.

Although he was fully conscious, Carson was immediately rushed to Mount Auburn Hospital, where he spent five hours undergoing x-rays and other examinations. At 4 a.m., he was brought to the University Health Services infirmary, where he will be kept until at least later today.

"They are keeping me here because of my pain and possible breaks," Carson said.

After hitting Carson, the Blazer struck the corner of Quincy House. The collision was heard by students throughout Leverett House and Old Quincy.

Even John P. Gerry, Allston Burr Senior Tutor of Quincy House, whose apartment is on the first floor of New Quincy, heard the accident and went outside.

"Then I called [the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD)]--they already knew about it and were on their way--and the House superintendent," Gerry wrote in an e-mail message.

Officers from both HUPD and the Cambridge Police Department, as well as city firefighters rushed to the scene after the accident. Within 15 minutes, about 50 onlookers crowded the corner.

Officers at the scene said neither driver was arrested, but declined to comment on possible traffic citations.

Gerry also called Michael L. Faye '02 and Duncan Hilton '02, residents of Quincy B-12, which is on the first floor near where the Blazer hit the building Faye said the crash was audible from the room, but everyone inside was fine.

"We are thankful the walls are so thick," Faye said.

The incident is part of a series of accidents in the last few years at the corner of Mill and Plympton Streets, which is bordered by Quincy, Leverett, Winthrop and Lowell Houses.

"This was now the second time that happened this year," Faye said. "There should be another stop sign."

There is currently a stop sign for cars coming down Mill Street but not Plympton Street.

Len Barker, a maintenance operator who was working in the area calls the corner "a dangerous intersection."

"This area has seen many accidents," Barker says.

Quincy Superintendent Ronald W. Levesque, who arrived right after Gerry's call, also said the intersection is "a dangerous corner."

"Maybe a two-way stop would help, or some kind of recognition," Levesque said.