Pedestrian hit by bus on Texas A&M campus

By: Staff Report

Posted: 12/8/08

A Texas A&M campus bus struck a Texas A&M staff member shortly after 12 p.m. Wednesday near Rudder Tower.

The route 34 bus hit Michelle Hayes at the intersection of Throckmorton Road and Joe Routt Boulevard, located between Rudder Tower and the John Koldus building on main campus. She was struck by the rear of the bus and ended up stuck in the bus' rear axle, according to witnesses.

Hayes, a business assistant for the Psychology Department on the Texas A&M website identified by KBTX, has been transferred to a high level trauma center from St. Joseph Regional Health Center.

Passersby heard a scream and a "loud cracking and crunching noise," said Alexander Haley, a junior biomedical science major. Several witnesses called 911. Shortly after, emergency responders removed the woman from under the bus.

Reid Fairbanks, a sophomore civil engineering major, was on the scene before EMT officials were able to respond.

"I pulled up right after she was hit...I saw people run over here and heard screaming, and so I wanted to come over and see if I could help because I'd taken my EMT class before."

Fairbanks said he held the woman's head and neck in his lap and talked to her until ambulances arrived to take her to the hospital.

"She was conscious the whole time," he said. "She didn't really have any serious injuries that you could see. She said she had a lot of pain in her lower abdomen around her pelvic area, so it's possible there could be some internal injury there."

The woman told Fairbanks she was halfway across the road when she was hit and run over.

A University spokesman did not know if the woman was an A&M student. He declined to comment on the situation, waiting for the University Police Department to conduct an investigation.

The woman was taken from the scene in an ambulance at approximately 12:30 p.m.

Reported by Nicole Alvarado, Kenny Ryan, Rick Rojas and Jason Staggs.