Jinjuta Jirawatjunya, a 25-year-old international student from Thailand and food science master’s student, was hit Wednesday evening by a white Buick Lucerne while in the crosswalk at the intersection of North Stadium Drive and Nicholson Drive.

Jirawatjunya’s friend, Adriana Soto, went with Jirawatjunya to the hospital and said she was responsive and coherent Wednesday night.

“She’s fine, she’s conscious, she’s talking and everything,” Soto said. “The doctor said she’s going to be fine, but we’re just waiting on the CAT scan results.”

Accident Location:

Public relations junior T Graham S. Howell witnessed the accident. Howell said Jirawatjunya was crossing Nicholson Drive when she was hit at the waist. Her head flew forward, hitting the driver side of the windshield. Howell said there wasn’t a lot of traffic, and Jirawatjunya seemed to be hurrying across the street.

Capt. Cory Lalonde, LSU Police Department spokesman, said the car was attempting to turn left from the Old Alex Box parking lot onto Nicholson Drive when it struck Jirawatjunya. Lalonde said Jirawatjunya had the right-of-way.

Jirawatjunya sustained injuries to her head and face from hitting the pavement, but Lalonde said the injuries were not life-threatening. She was put on a stretcher and taken to Baton Rouge General in Mid City.

The driver of the car is a 19-year-old female who declined to give her name but confirmed she is a student at the University. She said she had a green light when her car struck Jirawatjunya.

“That’s a bad intersection; sometimes you get stuck in the middle,” the driver said. “I think that the light was malfunctioning because someone who saw more than I did … saw that her sign said ‘walk’ too.”

The driver said she was not texting or talking on her phone during the incident.

Soto said the walking signal was lit and Jirawatjunya had the right-of-way.

Howell said he called 911 at 5:37 p.m. and that by the time he tweeted the incident at 5:41 p.m., police had arrived at the scene.

“They did an excellent job responding,” Howell said about emergency personnel.

This is the second incident at the University in a week in which a student was injured by a motor vehicle. Last Thursday, around 1:15 p.m., a Facility Services truck rolled over a student in the Quad.

That student was able to walk after the incident and had minor injuries to his face. He refused to be taken to the hospital, though he later went on his own. Both he and the driver of the Facility Services vehicle declined to comment when approached by Daily Reveille reporters Thursday.

Sports Writer Alex Cassara and Sports Columnist Micah Bedard also contributed to this report.