Listen Here
By: Olivia Wile
Twitter: o_wile
Email: wileo@findlay.edu
Though a seemingly normal spring day with grey skies and rain, University of Findlay students say a car wreck on Davis St. was completely out of the blue.
“I just want to know how someone crashes in that area when there’s two stop signs in the vicinity,” stated Freshman Brian Bethel.
Around 12 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27, the driver of an orange Mitsubishi ran the stop sign on Davis St., driving unto the sidewalk and striking a tree.
UF Sophomore Jordan Brown says he didn’t think much of the small orange car he spotted while walking from his class at the Center for Student Life and College of Business building until hearing it drive over the curb.
“I watched the car hit the trees, threw my stuff down, and knocked on the door,” said Brown. “He wasn’t coherent.”
Brown says after he saw the car go over the curb, his initial reaction was to check on the driver.
“The first thing I asked him was, “how are you doing today sir?” explained Brown. “After I did that, I asked him what his name was, asked him if he was hurt or not. He said his face hurt because his airbags didn’t deploy.”
The University was quick to respond as Vice President of Student Affairs David Emsweller sent a UF update about an hour after the incident.
“Shortly after 12:00 noon today, a car (driven by a non-UF person) went up over the sidewalk at the corner of Davis and N. Cory and ran into a tree outside of the English house (1124 N. Cory). No one (including the driver) was injured, and both the Findlay PD and UF Police responded to the scene,” wrote Emsweller.
Captain of Safety and Security Steven Baum says that although the incident happened on the City of Findlay’s property, he was still quick to respond to calls dispatched to his office.
“I mean, I was the first one down there, and there were several people on their phones already,” said Braun.
Baum says the Findlay Police Department is in charge of conducting the investigation because the crash began on their property.
“If he would have been driving through our parking lot and hit that tree, then it would have been ours because it would have been private property,” explained Baum. “But because he started loosing the control in the street, that’s where the crash actual started at, and then where he ended up is called final resting place.”
The incident is a reminder that the campus community needs to be aware of their surroundings, whether in a crosswalk or not.
“There could have been somebody walking, facing the opposite direction of that car, and they might have been able to hear it coming if they didn’t have their headphones in,” explained Baum. “But if they did, they would have never heard it, they would have never seen it because they were looking the other way. It could have turned out really bad.”
Though no one was inquired in the accident, Baum says it reinforces the concern of both Campus Security and the UF Police.
“It’s a concern of ours that we try to stress to students every opportunity we get, that you got to be careful when you’re walking.”
