Student Is Injured in Hit-and-Run

A Harvard student crossing JFK St. was the victim of a hit-and-run last Thursday afternoon at about 5 p.m.

Lowell House resident Katherine F. Mossman '97 was heading to the Institute of Politics when she was struck. Mossman suffered minor injuries, including lacerations on her arms and legs and bruised ribs. She was released from Mt. Auburn Hospital late Thursday night, she said.

"Someone behind me scremed...then [the car] hit me from the left on the leg and knocked [me chin-first] onto the ground," Mossman said.

Mossman said the "walk" sign was lit when she was crossing the street. She said she did not see the car before or after she was hit.

No witnesses have come forward, Harvard University Police Chief Paul E. Johnson said yesterday. The police consider the case closed, he said.

"There's nothing to go on. I'd say the investigation is over," Johnson said.

Mossman said that she thinks there must be at least one witness to the incident because she heard a woman scream before the accident.

Lowell House Assistant Senior Tutor Tim J. Markey urged anyone who knows anything about the hit-and-run to step forward.

"There was at least one witness; there must have been many more," Markey said. "The [IOP] faces Kirkland; surely some few people saw it."

After she was struck, Mossman "jumped straight up and ran across the street without looking back," she said.

"I must have been in shock," she said. "I don't know what the car looked like; I don't know anything."

Mossman doesn't remember any- one helping her after the accident, though shesaid she might have been too delirious to notice.

"My hearing was messed up and I couldn't tellif [there were] voices," she said. "I was toointent on trying to get across the street."

From the IOP building, Mossman called a friendat Lowell House to pick her up.

Her friend, Rolland Ho '97, came 10 minuteslater and walked Mossman back to his Lowell Houseroom, where he attended to her injuries. Ho saidthey were "mainly superficial scratches."

"My personal opinion was that it wasn'tnecessary [to call an ambulance]," Ho said. "Shecould walk, she could talk--she was just shakenup."

Another friend eventually called an ambulanceabout an hour after the incident, Johnson said.

"I went to dinner and when I came back I hadfour EMS people in my room," Ho said.

House Master William H. Bossert and other housestaff and students watched while Mossman, strappedto a stretcher and wearing a neck brace and icepack, was wheeled onto an ambulance.

"It was interesting to watch them trying topull her out of my room and down the staircase,"Ho said. "She could obviously walk; it was justsomething they had to do for legal liability."

Mossman was checked at the hospital andreleased after a couple of hours. Speakingyesterday, Mossman said that she is recoveringwell and that she is "just bruised."

Bossert could not be reached for commentyesterday

"My hearing was messed up and I couldn't tellif [there were] voices," she said. "I was toointent on trying to get across the street."

From the IOP building, Mossman called a friendat Lowell House to pick her up.

Her friend, Rolland Ho '97, came 10 minuteslater and walked Mossman back to his Lowell Houseroom, where he attended to her injuries. Ho saidthey were "mainly superficial scratches."

"My personal opinion was that it wasn'tnecessary [to call an ambulance]," Ho said. "Shecould walk, she could talk--she was just shakenup."

Another friend eventually called an ambulanceabout an hour after the incident, Johnson said.

"I went to dinner and when I came back I hadfour EMS people in my room," Ho said.

House Master William H. Bossert and other housestaff and students watched while Mossman, strappedto a stretcher and wearing a neck brace and icepack, was wheeled onto an ambulance.

"It was interesting to watch them trying topull her out of my room and down the staircase,"Ho said. "She could obviously walk; it was justsomething they had to do for legal liability."

Mossman was checked at the hospital andreleased after a couple of hours. Speakingyesterday, Mossman said that she is recoveringwell and that she is "just bruised."

Bossert could not be reached for commentyesterday