A female student whose name has not been released was injured in a hit-and-run accident outside of Millennium High School, in the Financial District, on Tuesday morning.
The student was on South William Street when a taxi struck her, throwing her to the ground, inflicting severe bruising, and causing multiple injuries to her mouth. Sources directly familiar with the circumstances say that the driver of the taxi stopped and asked the student whether she had been injured. Dazed, possibly suffering from shock, and covering her bleeding mouth with her hand, the student replied that she appeared to be unharmed. At this point, the driver returned to his taxi and left the scene.
Although injured, the student was able to move under her own power from the street to Millennium’s lobby, where school safety officers called 911. Both an ambulance and police officers from the NYPD’s First Precinct responded.
The ambulance took the student to New York-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital, where she was determined to be in stable condition, treated for brushing, and released. The NYPD and school safety officers assigned to Millennium High School are now canvasing the area to determine whether security cameras from nearby buildings may have captured information that can be used to identify the taxi that hit the student. (In New York, assurances from the victim of any accident involving vehicles and pedestrians are not legally sufficient basis for the driver to leave the scene of the incident.)
One contributing cause to this accident may have been improper signage outside the school. The curb outside the front door of Millennium is correctly labeled a ‘No Standing Zone’. But another sign nearby, which is supposed to refer to an adjacent stretch of curb, has been turned at an odd angle. This sign lists commercial traffic parking hours, and seems to imply (incorrectly) that commercial vehicles are permitted to park there.
As a result, trucks and delivery vehicles regularly park in front of the school. This reduces the line of sight for both drivers (who are unable to see students entering or leaving the building) and students (who cannot see over or around the trucks and delivery vans parked in front of the school).
Millennium High School officials have raised this concern with the City’s Department of Transportation (the agency responsible for traffic and parking signage), and have been assured that it will be addressed within the next 14 days.
Tricia Joyce, chair of the Youth and Education Committee of Community Board 1, who has been a persistent advocate for traffic safety measures related to Downtown schools, said, “it is upsetting to hear that one of our Millennium students had been hit by a New York City taxi, and of course concerning that damaged signage was possibly a cause. It is good to know that the Department of Transportation will be looking into this right away, and an important reminder to make sure all of our signage surrounding our schools in Lower Manhattan is abundant and clear, both to the pedestrians as well as the vehicular traffic. We can expect more challenges in this area as both residential and commercial construction continues.”