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Victoria pedestrian escapes serious injury in downtown bus incident

Knocked to the ground in crosswalk, woman shaken up, receives scrapes
pedestrian hit by bus
Pedestrian

There were some scary moments for a couple of downtown pedestrians and passengers on a B.C. Transit bus Tuesday morning.

Kathryn Jessup was walking home with a friend and crossing Blanshard Street on a walk signal at Humboldt Street at about 8:30 a.m. when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bus turning left from Humboldt Street north onto Blanshard.

"I put my hand out and touched the bike rack on the front (of the bus)," she said.

The contact knocked her off balance and sent her to the ground, Jessup said. She suffered scrapes to her elbows and luckily, the operator stopped immediately in the middle of the intersection once he realized what happened.

Jessup, who lives nearby, was still shaking when she spoke to the News, but said of the bus driver, "He's more shook up than me."

Bus passenger Stefanie Adrian, a preschool teacher on her way to work, said people on the bus started screaming when they saw the bus not stopping for the pedestrians.

"My first thought was, 'hey I have first aid training,'" Adrian said. She quickly came off the bus and went Jessup's aid, asking her where it hurt. "My main concern was whether she might have a head injury," Adrian said.

Police and ambulance were called and the section of road was blocked for half an hour or so.

VicPD officers on scene said the transit driver will be ticketed for failing to yield.

Transit supervisor Neil Henderson confirmed at the accident site that the driver would be take off shift for the day and his route covered by another driver. The company will investigate the incident, along with ICBC, he said.

ddescoteau@vicnews.com