Student hit, killed by car on Fee Lane

UPDATE:

IU Police Department Lt. Craig Munroe confirmed no witnesses reported reckless behavior from the student who drove the car that killed sophomore Peter Duong on Wednesday.

However, the driver was cited for driving with a suspended license, which was the product of an unpaid insurance bill.

“He might have not even known his license was suspended,” Munroe said.

Duong is believed to have died from a head injury, Munroe said.

Duong got off work at Gresham Food Court at Foster Quad shortly before the accident occurred. He crossed Fee Lane toward McNutt Quad, and then started to cross Fee Lane again back toward Foster, said Munroe. Munroe did not know why he re-crossed the street.

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An IU student was killed Wednesday after being hit by a car while crossing Fee Lane.

Sophomore Peter Duong, 19, from Terre Haute, was taken to Bloomington Hospital shortly after 2:30 p.m. and pronounced dead.

Duong was crossing east on Fee Lane when he was hit by a sedan traveling southbound. The collision occurred adjacent to the McNutt Quad bus stop.

The IU Police Department was investigating the scene and talking to witnesses.
Scattered down the southbound side of Fee Lane were the student’s shoes, hat and backpack.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said President Michael McRobbie and the administration will take a closer look at the police report to see if there are any safety issues that need to be addressed.

Freshman Grace Heaney said she was about to cross 13th Street between McNutt Quad and its south parking lot when she looked up and saw the accident as Duong’s shoe flew toward her.

“I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw the blood,” Heaney said.

While cars stopped and people gathered around the accident, Heaney said she had to
walk away after witnessing the accident.

“I remember the driver looked horrified, clasping his hands over his face,” Heaney said.
Freshman Jack Masterson also witnessed the event while walking north on Fee Lane, about 100 feet south of the accident.

“The most stinging image in my mind was his shoes flying what was maybe 40 feet in the air,” Masterson said.

The driver of the vehicle, who is also a 19-year-old IU student, was taken home by IUPD officers after collecting some belongings out of his car before it was taken away as evidence.

Fee Lane, a major pathway for campus traffic, was closed between 13th and 17th streets for more than an hour.

Immediately before the accident occurred, second-year graduate student Christine Carmichael was driving about 30 feet behind the vehicle that hit Duong, she said.

“I looked up, the car stopped and all this stuff just flew up in the air,” Carmichael said.

After stopping and getting out of her car, Carmichael went to where the accident occurred. She said a man in an IU service truck also got out of his car with a first aid kit and checked Duong’s pulse.

She said Duong laid motionless on the street. Police tried to revive him, Carmichael said, and paramedics transferred him to an ambulance.

Later in the evening, flowers were placed on the curb in remembrance of Duong.