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Last updated on Monday, July 2, 2012
(BLOOMINGTON) - A 17-year-old girl told Bloomington police that as she and a 5-year-old girl got off a city bus Friday night, the bus driver waved to her and she thought it was safe to cross Rockport Road Friday evening.
Abby Tonsing of the Herald Times reports that the two girls were struck by a Jeep as they tried to cross the street. Both were transported to IU Health Bloomington Hospital with injuries. Doctors told investigating officers that the most serious of the injures to the two girls was a concussion, Bloomington police Sgt. Dana Cole said Saturday.
Bloomington police were called to an accident with injuries at Rockport Road near Countryside Lane at 6:25 p.m. Friday.
Police found two girls, ages 17 and 5, had been struck by a white 1989 Jeep Cherokee. The girls were transported to IU Health Bloomington Hospital.
The driver of the Jeep, Gary Fair, 52, of Bloomington, told police that he was driving about 15 to 20 mph south on Rockport Road when he drove past a city bus that had pulled over on the side of the road, allowing for passengers to exit.
Fair reported that two girls stepped out in front of the bus to cross the street and walked into his path, according to Cole. Fair reported he swerved to avoid hitting the girls, but collided with them.
At the scene of the accident Friday evening, Bloomington police Sgt. John Kovach, an accident reconstructionist, told The Herald-Times early indications seemed to show the driver had his foot on the brakes and attempted to swerve to avoid hitting the girls. Kovach said the driver tested negative for alcohol on a portable breath test and said there were no other indications of intoxication.
Fair was transported from the scene of the accident to the hospital for a blood draw. Those blood test results are still pending, Cole said Saturday. Fair was not cited by police after the accident.
Kovach interviewed the 17-year-old girl at the hospital. She told police that when they got off the bus, the bus driver waved at them, and she thought that meant it was safe to cross the street, according to a police report.
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