Two pedestrians, including a UK student, were struck and injured on Richmond Road near Shriners Lane early Monday, according to Lexington Police.
UK sophomore Sierra T. Emrich, 19, and Alfred B. Baker, 21, both of Lexington, were walking on the right shoulder of Richmond Road when tow truck driver, Louis D. Lunsford, became distracted and veered to the right shoulder, striking the two pedestrians, according to a Lexington Police news release.
Both were transported to UK Hospital. Emrich was discharged Monday afternoon, but Baker was still at the hospital listed in fair condition as of 7 p.m Monday.
According to the release, police suspect both pedestrians had been consuming alcohol beforehand.
— Laura Clark
“…police suspect both pedestrians had been consuming alcohol beforehand.”
Why did the police even say that? If they don’t KNOW for sure, they should have kept their doughnut munchers shut. No, wait- that doesn’t even matter then, because they were walking!
The fact of the matter is, the tow truck driver was COMPLETELY in the wrong. Of course, it would be hard for a towing company to take the blame in Lexington, as they run everything… There is no mention of the towing company’s name either.
Thank you Laura for reporting on this release which shows the LFUCG and/or UKPD’s infatuation with the towing companies.
The truth is, when toxicology comes back, LFUCG Police will have some apologizing to do. And, it was Bluegrass Towing. Distracted is right. He came across the bike lane AND the emergency lane.
Great, great job Kernel and LFUCG Police. Way to demonize the victims in this article. Yes, because they were walking outside of traffic lanes, even outside of an emergency lane where there is no sidewalk. So it is their fault for getting hit, because OH MY GOD! THEY WERE IN THE STREET AND THEY HAD DRANK EARLIER!
Score another one for victim demonization. And the driver hasn’t made one inclination of an apology or anything else.
This press release (and Kernel post) completely displaces the irresponsibility and fault of the driver. The Herald-Leader mentioned that he is not likely to be fined (the message being that if you’re a truck driver, you can drive around, get distracted and hit pedestrians at will without even a slap on the wrist). The students are going through enough trauma and shock – having been hit by a truck and hospitalized – and now they have to deal with the weight of this public association that they were drinking. They should be applauded for not getting behind the wheel – for all we know, they were not behaving irresponsibly and the fact that they were drinking is completely irrelevant. It should not have mentioned unless it was confirmed that it had anything to do with the accident.
The Kernel has a history of throwing cheap shots at students who may or may not have been drinking. Obviously, the news was taken from a press release that was scant on information, and the police are most likely ultimately at fault for displacing the blame, but we’ve come to expect that from cops around here and the Kernel has a responsibility to UK students to do better than this.
I didnt think you were suppose to post defamatory, abusive comments? Lets face what we all know or should know. CHOICES WERE MADE! The people should have not been walking in that particular piece of road with out a sidewalk, the driver of the wrecker should be cited if inattention was the cause, if alcohol was involved then the students shouold be cited. Its funny to read these and listen to people bash the police…but when its your family getting taken advantage of and the police are lucky and find the people you think the police are great. GROW UP!!!!!!!!!! Nobody said life is fair or just all the time.
There will be a protest against reckless Lexington tow trucks today (Wednesday Sept 9) from at 5 to 6:00 PM in front of the Lexington Police Dept, corner of Martin Luther King and Main St downtown Lexington.
Everyone is welcome to come, please show your support for Sierra and Alfie.
This rally is to ask Police to enforce the traffic laws against tow trucks, and to have some accountability in the system.
Everyone is tired of these tow trucks, which I feel are a public safety menace.
Lets see, They were drinking, hmmm pretty sure she is under age. They were walking in a bike lane at nite.It was dark. lighting on that part of the road at best is dim. Someone reported that they were riding bikes,thats false. so did he stagger into the street? maybe. was the driver at fault? maybe. could anyone of us have struck him?sure! Even cooper, who was shown riding a bike witch I feel are a public safety menace
could have struck them. Now why dont you protest the real facts, like underage dinking?