Shuttle Bus Strikes Student's Father During Move Out

The father of a Harvard junior was struck by a University shuttle in front of Dunster House Wednesday afternoon after he fell while loading his daughter’s belongings into their car.

The student, Christine M. Fitzgerald ’07, said that her father, who was rushed to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is recovering well and was released from the hospital last night.

“He’s actually now fine,” she said yesterday. “It was a pretty scary event, but he is pretty much just walking away with a cut on his head and an injured shoulder.”

Fitzgerald’s family had been helping the Dunster resident pack her things into their minivan while it was parked on Cowperthwaithe Street.

“My mom, in closing the trunk of the car, didn’t realize my dad was so close, and hit the top of his head, which sent him falling backwards,” Fitzgerald said.

“He then fell backwards [into the street], right as the bus was going by,” said James Green, a Cambridge Police Department (CPD) officer who was at the scene.

Fasil Mekonnen, a University Operations Services employee, said that he had just informed the man of a 20-minute parking limit and was walking away when he heard the screams.

“I turned around to see him falling to the ground,” he said. “He bounced back, hit the shuttle, and bounced to the ground. There was a whole lot of screaming, and I saw him bleeding.”

Mekonnen said that bystanders hurried over immediately. Within minutes, he said, an ambulance had arrived to rush the man to the hospital.

“I was really panicked,” Mekonnen said. “I’ve never seen that before.”

According to Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven G. Catalano, the incident isn’t being investigated as a criminal matter.

Fitzgerald said that her father, Robert, was kept in the hospital overnight because the doctors wanted to run tests to make sure no internal bleeding took place.

“They also kept in him to make sure he hadn’t suffered any mild heart attacks,” she said.

Mekonnen said that the shuttle bus driver acted quickly in response to the accident.

“The bus driver did a good job, he stopped right when he heard the screams,” he said. “If he’d kept going, he’d probably have run him over.”

Christine Fitzgerald said the shuttle bus driver was apologetic and acted with the utmost professionalism.

David Harris, the general manager of Harvard University Transportation Services, said that he didn’t think fault should be placed on the shuttle driver.

“The man fell back and hit the rear door on the bottom of the bus,” he said. “The father struck the shuttle bus, not the other way around.”

Harris added the shuttle had been moving at only around five miles an hour.

Green wouldn’t comment any further on the incident. “It’s still under investigation [by CPD],” he said.

—Robin M. Peguero contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Reed B. Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.