Accident injures 2

An IU graduate student was briefly hospitalized Thursday after she was struck by a motorcyclist on Seventh Street between Union and Jordan avenues.\nIU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said pedestrian Donna Queen was hit by a 2004 Kawasaki motorcycle operated by junior Terry Stewart as Queen attempted to cross the two-lane road.\nPolice reports indicate Stewart swerved to avoid hitting Queen and lost control of the motorcycle, sliding under the rear bumper of a parked car. Minger said the owner of the vehicle Stewart struck met officers at the scene and could not find any discernable damage on the car. The accident, reported to the IUPD at 10:55 a.m. Thursday, closed off Seventh Street until the final police reports were filed and damages were assessed. Fire rescue trucks were also dispatched to the scene.\n"Any time that kind of accident happens, we turn out the fire rescue truck and ambulances," Minger said. "There's always the possibility of gas spilling. We also cordon off the road because of emergency vehicles, and we have to preserve the scene to make measurements and things like that."\nBoth Queen, a master's student studying library science, and Stewart were treated for minor abrasions and injuries at Bloomington Hospital and were released early Thursday afternoon. \nStewart declined comment to the Indiana Daily Student Thursday, and Queen said she has no recollection of the accident. \n"The last thing I remember is crossing the street," said Queen, who had just left the School of Education. "The next thing I know, I'm waking up in an ambulance."\nMinger said accidents of this type are most likely frequent, but the parties involved typically prefer not to involve police. \n"Usually, both just leave and call it even," Minger said. "We're sure that more accidents go on, but on average, as far as pedestrian accidents, we usually only have a maximum of 10 to 13 reported in a year."\nIndiana state law requires accidents involving property damage totaling in excess of $750 or serious bodily injury be reported. Thursday's accidents involved neither. \nQueen said she was not seriously injured and did not fault Stewart. \n"I'm sure it was just an accident."\n-- Contact senior writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.