Two students were hit by a moving vehicle on Loop Road near the Main Gate last Friday night and the vehicle "fled the scene," according to the University Police Log. Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that both of the victims were hospitalized. According to the Police Log, one student was transported by ambulance to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital and the other was transported by ambulance to Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center. The student taken to Newton-Wellesley was released, but the other student hadn't been discharged from Beth Israel as of 6:30 p.m. yesterday, according to Callahan's e-mail. The student released from the hospital declined to comment.

Callahan wrote in his e-mail that the driver has been identified and the incident is under investigation. Sgt. Timothy King, the spokesman for the Waltham Police Department, could not be reached for comment by press time. A student familiar with the situation who was not on the scene that night and wished to remain anonymous due to the student's connection to the incident said that the driver was a student. Another source, a student, confirmed that the driver was a student.

That same student said in an interview with the Justice that both students were struck by the vehicle and thrown a distance and there was moderate blood loss as a result. The student also said that the victim taken to Newton-Wellesley was discharged that night. The student taken to Beth Israel was in the intensive care unit as of noon yesterday, the source said.

The Police Log also states that "a vehicle matching the description wanted was found in East Quad parking lot."

A student who witnessed the incident and wished to remain anonymous due to uncertainty that the victims would want this information revealed and the sensitivity of the issue said that the incident took place when the two victims were walking with a group of other students on the way back to East Residence Quad from the Chabad house on Turner Street Friday night. This student was part of that group.

"I was on the sidewalk, but two of my friends who were by the car were on the street; ... the next thing I know, a car came," the student said, adding that no one saw the car coming and that the vehicle's headlights were not on. The source further explained that the car hit one of the victims from the side and one from the front, that BEMCo immediately responded and that someone ran after the car to obtain the license plate number. The student also said that the victim hit from the front sustained worse injuries because that victim was hit in the head, and the other victim was bruised.

This student also said that the car that hit the victims moved to the side of the road and continued to drive. A Waltham Police officer and a University Police officer interrogated the student and the other witnesses to discern if the driver wanted to hurt the victims, and during the process, the driver's identity was revealed.


-Fiona Lockyer contributed reporting.