Alafaya Trail was temporarily shut down Saturday after a student driving home from the UCF Rec Center crashed into a man riding his bike near the Sigma Chi fraternity house.
The man, who witnesses said a homeless panhandler identified as also being homeless, was not seriously injured, but the female UCF student driver who told KnightNews.com she hit him, was extremely shaken up and in tears.
The driver, who did not give her name, was too upset to talk on camera, but told KnightNews.com she was driving to turn left on Alafaya from Gemini when the man came out of nowhere. The driver said the man did give an address to police, but because of witness accounts from the scene stating he is currently homeless, it’s not clear whether the address given is an address of a family member or friend, or if he was wrongly identified as homeless by the witnesses on scene.
The man rolled onto her windshield while she continued driving for just a few seconds, until she had time to react, according to several witnesses on scene who were all UCF students.
Although all the witnesses told KnightNews.com and police the UCF student driver was not at fault, she still has to file an insurance claim for the damage done to her car, because the homeless victim apparently has no insurance.
Witnesses said the victim refused to be transported by the ambulance, and Alafaya Trail opened quickly, after it was temporarily shut down.
