News Briefs: Friday, October 22, 1999

Student struck by car outside upper Quad The male student was taken by ambulance to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was treated for head and chest injuries and released several hours later. The student said yesterday that he was attempting to cross Spruce Street near the upper Quad gate at about 10:15 a.m. when he was hit. Though the student -- who admitted he was in a hurry at the time of the accident -- said he remembers looking both ways and seeing a green light, someone told him later that the light might have been yellow. He received several stitches for a cut above his eye and X-rays were taken of his chest area, though no broken bones were discovered. On Tuesday, Wharton freshman Michael Yang was killed at the intersection of 33rd and Spruce streets after the bicycle he was riding collided with a large truck. And on October 8, 70-year-old Benjamin Tencer, who was taking classes at Penn as part of a program for senior citizens, was struck by a cab at 34th and Walnut streets while riding a bicycle. He died as a result of his injuries three days later. The student involved in yesterday's incident said that the events of just the past few days -- including his own accident -- show that the burden of safety rests on the shoulders of anyone who uses campus streets. "We're going to have to take a lot more responsibility," he said. -- Rod Kurtz