Bill Shearman, Manship School of Mass Communication instructor, was hit by a truck while biking to campus Thursday morning. An ambulance brought Shearman to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital on Hennessey Boulevard, where he was treated and released for head injuries. Shearman’s accident is the third collision between a vehicle and pedestrian on the University’s campus in the past five days. Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman, said the driver of a white Chevrolet truck pulled onto W. Parker Drive from Oxford Avenue at about 8:15 a.m. and did not see Shearman riding his bicycle in the crosswalk. McKneely said he did not know if charges were going to be filed in the accident. “We won’t know for a few days until the report comes back,” he said. Angela Fleming, assistant to the Manship School’s dean John Hamilton, said she arrived at the scene minutes after it occurred. “By the time I got over there, he was already in the ambulance,” Fleming said. “A girl who saw the accident told me that [Shearman] swerved to keep the truck from hitting him and fell. The truck tire hit him in the head as it passed.” She said Shearman’s head had a deep laceration, which needed to be treated at the hospital’s emergency room. Fleming said Shearman remained conscious and even talked to people on the scene.
“The girl who saw the accident told me that the first thing he said was, ‘Can someone call the Manship School and tell them that I won’t be making class today?'” Fleming said.
Fleming said she went to the scene of the accident as soon as she received the phone call. Fleming said she could not believe Shearman had been injured, and everyone she talked to in the Manship School said they hope he makes a quick recovery.
“We all think a lot of him over here,” she said. “He’s one nice, nice guy.”
Contact Jeff Jeffrey at [email protected]