BU student hit by car on Comm. Ave.

By Suzanne Schiavone and Susan Zalkind

A female Boston University student was struck by a car at about 12:20 p.m. on Thursday while crossing the street by the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Granby Street, the BU Police Department said.

The student was hit about eight feet west of the crosswalk located near 675 Comm. Ave., BUPD Captain Robert Malloy said.

Malloy said the student was walking with two friends at the time and started to cross from the median on Comm. Ave. Her friends went back to the median when they saw a car coming, but the student did not get back in time, Malloy said.

The student appeared to have suffered head injuries and was transported by ambulance to Brigham and Women’s hospital, where she was reportedly conscious, Malloy said.

The car, a black Volvo with a Pennsylvania license plate, had a large concave dent on the passenger side of the windshield. Malloy said the driver was not cited.

Three BU students certified as emergency medical technicians treated the woman on the scene before authorities arrived.

The student EMTs said the driver, who they said is also an EMT, got out of his car immediately to see if the woman was OK.

Sean Finn, a College of Communication sophomore, said he was standing outside of Starbucks and saw the woman get hit by the car as she crossed the street from the median in the middle of Comm. Ave. toward the Campus Trolley food truck.

Witnesses reportedly saw the woman being thrown through the air and then striking the pavement.

“I was walking on Comm. Ave. . . she was crossing. I just saw her body just being flown,” said College of Arts and Sciences junior Tara Pine. “She threw her cup and then I just saw the body on the floor and she’s bleeding by her face.”

Pine said she saw the woman bleeding from her nose and around her face.

“I was waiting for the train and I heard the sound first, and I looked over and the girl was on the car and flew off to where she was. My friend Katie Biegler is an EMT and she ran over to help,” said School of Management freshman Caitlin Seele.

Biegler, an SMG freshman, said that she went over to help immediately.

“I saw her get hit and then I came running over,” Biegler said. “First thing I did was I tried to hold spine stabilization, just to make sure that she didn’t move, kept telling her not to move, I was also…doing the mental assessment to see where she was and then I started taking vitals.”

EMT Courtney Tarleton, a CAS sophomore, arrived second and called 911 after seeing Biegler checking the woman’s vitals and responsiveness. EMT Felicia Nguyen, a junior in CAS, was also on the scene.

Washington Journalism Program canceled for fall 2010

By Neal J. Riley

The Washington Journalism Program has been canceled for fall 2010 due to low enrollment, according to an International Programs email received by program applicants.

The decision blindsided College of Communication officials Monday.

“I’m hoping it’s incorrect,” said COM Dean Tom Fiedler after being made aware of the cancellation by The Daily Free Press. “The last conversation I had with them, which was last Wednesday night, was that we’re still going forward with it.”

The email, sent by IP Program Assistant Director Deborah Miller Monday afternoon, told applicants to notify IP as soon as possible if they wished to be considered for another program.

Phone calls to Miller and IP Institutional Relations Director Joseph Finkhouse were not immediately returned.

Turkey trots down Bay State Road Wednesday

A turkey was spotted on Bay State Road at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

College of Communication sophomore Christopher Wilcox saw the turkey walking on the sidewalk in front of Towers.

“I saw a turkey standing between two parked cars . . . I pulled out my phone and took a picture of it . . . I mean how often do you see turkeys in the middle of Boston?” he said in an email. “It was minding it’s [sic] own business; it wasn’t following anyone or approaching anyone on the street.”

The turkey in question paces up and down the sidewalk in front of 140 Bay State Rd. (Photo courtesy of Christopher Wilcox)

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Liz Mirovich saw the turkey after she exited the International Relations Department building.

“I just followed it across the street because I was wondering what it was doing there,” she said.

She followed it to the Towers lawn and snapped a photo with her phone.

The unidentified turkey struts in front of Towers. (Photo courtesy of Liz Mirovich)

The turkey was later spotted near Kenmore Square. Details were not immediately available as to what brought it to East Campus or where it came from.

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CAS sophomore dead

(Facebook photo credit Daniel Leader)

By Neal J. Riley and Allison McKinnon

Michael DeVito, a 19-year-old sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, died after he was found unconscious by the Boston Police Department at 50 Gardner St. Thursday morning.

BPD was responding to a report of an unconscious person at about 8:30 a.m. and emergency medical technicians were already on the scene, BPD spokesman David Estrada said. DeVito was transported to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.

50 Gardner St. is a house occupied by members of the Sigma Chi fraternity, according to Boston University.

BPD does not suspect foul play at this time, and the the investigation into DeVito’s death is ongoing, Estrada said. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Zach Monash, who spent his freshman year with DeVito at BU, said DeVito had heart palpitations. Police could not confirm what preexisting condition may have factored in the death.

Many students learned of DeVito’s death through an email from Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore.

“Michael’s passing is a shock for me and also for our students and their families,” Elmore wrote. “During this time of tragedy, I encourage us all to connect and support each other.”

About 50 people attended a counseling session held in the Howard Thurman Center Thursday evening.

A native of Rye, N.Y., DeVito chose to come to school in Boston two years ago as a freshman. Friends and classmates said he had recently declared his major in mathematics.

“He was still a Yankees fan even though he moved to Boston,” said Tony Pahumi, a friend and CAS sophomore who was at the HTC session.

Pahumi reminisced about other things Michael enjoyed.

“He has always loved Shakespeare and was a sensitive guy,” he said. “He always said ‘Titanic’ was one of his favorite movies.”

CAS sophomore CJ Beck said he would remember Michael as a fun-loving guy who had many goals.

“He was really sure of himself and he was so infectious,” he said. “Just so happy and ecstatic in life. He was happy all the time.”

Other friends said Michael cared a lot about his family and talked about them frequently.

“He loved his Mom more than anything and was so proud of her,” said School of Management sophomore Sneha Sett. “He talked about her all the time.”

Sett said Michael was “the best dancer” and the most fun to be around. She remembered a time when they were freshmen and Michael cheered everyone up.

“We were in an elevator full of people and he started singing and dancing, trying to make everyone have a good time,” she said. “That’s the kind of person he was.”

A friend of Michael DeVito's leaves a bouquet at the memorial set up for him on Marsh Plaza Thursday night. (Photo credit: Shannon Young)

UPDATE: Weezer cancels tour

After Sunday morning’s bus crash, Weezer has decided to cancel the remainder of their tour.

The band was on its way from Toronto, Ontario to Boston University for a show at Agganis planned for Monday night when the band’s bus crashed in upstate New York.

Lead singer Rivers Cuomo, 40, was hospitalized along with another passanger.

Opening band Jack’s Mannequin posted on their MySpace Blog about the tour’s cancellation:

Due to an injury, the remaining Weezer/Jack’s Mannequin December dates have been canceled.

“Rivers, We are all thinking about you and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Sincerely,
Andrew and the Jack’s Mannequin band and crew”

Click here to read The Daily Free Press’ original blog post and watch out for scams on the internet (CraigsList) as people are already trying to sell tickets to the now cancelled show.

UPDATE: Check out Weezer’s official MySpace blog for more details on the accident, injuries sustained, official statements and photos of the wreck.

Weezer singer hurt in bus crash on way to BU

Weezer frontman, Rivers Cuomo, 40, was on his way to Boston Sunday morning when his bus crashed in upstate New York, leaving him in the hospital.

The band was making their way from Toronto, Ontario to Boston University for a Monday night show at Agganis Arena.

The singer and another passanger were transported to a hospital in Amsterdam, NY after Cuomo complained of rib pain.

The bus crashed just after 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning when the bus’s back wheels lost control after skidding on some black ice, the bus driver told NY State police. The bus crashed into the median on the NY State Thruway before crossing back over the highway, going over the guardrail and landing in a ditch, police said.

Cuomo’s wife, daughter and a fifth passenger were involved in the accident but escaped uninjured.

Stay tuned to the Daily Free Press blog and Twitter for updates.

Two stabbings on campus this weekend

Two, unrelated stabbings happened on campus this weekend, neither of them involving a Boston University student, BU Police Department said.

“These two are pretty rare cases,” BUPD Sgt. Jeffrey Burke said.

Boston Police is handling the incident, Burke said, but BUPD is assisting in the investigation.

One of the stabbings happened between two homeless men in Kenmore Square. The victim was a resident of the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter. He is said to be in stable condition.

The other stabbing happened at the medical campus, said Burke, in a family waiting room adjacent to a waiting room. The victim’s condition is unknown at this time.

“This is not a spike of stabbings either in the Charles River Campus or the Medical campus,” Burke said. “That area at the Boston Medical Center, it’s a city-wide trauma center so people from all over the city are treated there so it’s not just BU specific.”

“The people involved actually came in from another part of the city, due to another family member being treated at the emergency room,” he said.
It is unknown what caused either dispute.

BU Wins the “Twitter College Bowl” with 138 Votes

On Tuesday, BostonTweet, a twitter user with almost 10,000 followers who reports happenings in Boston by collecting information through “twitter conversations” held a poll for the university in Boston with the most presence on twitter. The poll included students, alumni, faculty and administration.

Boston University beat out Emerson for its presence on the social-networking/micro-blogging site with 138 votes.

On-campus offices holding accounts and the Dean of Students, Dean Elmore, updating on the regular helped BU take the lead.

For more information, click the link and check out the the votes and comments!

http://www.bostontweet.com/

Athletes to donate brains to BU

Head trauma, concussions and other serious injuries are somewhat part of the everyday life for a professional athlete, especially players from the NFL. But the severity and to what degree do these injuries take a toll on the body have yet to be determined.

Three NFL players are about the change that, along with Boston University.

According to NESN.com “Matt Birk of the Baltimore Ravens, Lofa Tatupu of the Seattle Seahawks (and son of former Patriot Mosi Tatupu) and Sean Morey of the Arizona Cardinals — are joining former players in donating their brains after death to a BU program that studies sports brain injuries.”

BU’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy will use the players’ brain and spinal cord tissue to better understand the repercussions of some of the injuries sustained during their time playing intense, contact sports.

Already, more than 150 former athletes have signed up for the program’s brain donation registry, including former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson.

For more information check out The Daily Free Press online and in print this week.