At around 7 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 29-year-old female Rensselaer graduate student Sanyukta was hit by a car while crossing 15th Street from the Quad side to the Rensselaer Union. According to Mark Smith, dean of students, “she is in good condition given the circumstances.”

No charges will be filed against the driver, Claudiu Hapenciuc, who is also a graduate student at RPI. According to Captain John Cooney with the Troy Police Department, the investigation was conducted at the scene and it was found that Sanyukta had crossed the street outside of the crosswalk—about half the distance between there and the pedestrian footbridge.

Sanyukta, however, was cited for failing to cross at a crosswalk, which is more commonly referred to as jaywalking. Cooney added that because there are many crosswalks on the RPI campus and they are so prominent, there is no reason to not use them.

Rafael Martinez ’11 was in a lounge in the Quad Residence Hall with his friends when the incident occurred. “We heard screeching and a thud. When we looked out the window, there was a car stopped and a girl lying on the ground convulsing.”

“One needs to be careful crossing that street, especially when not crossing at a crosswalk,” Smith said, adding, “We have to look and be careful just as we were taught when we were three.”

Troy Police and Fire Departments and Public Safety responded to the accident, closing off the street. When they first arrived at the scene, Martinez noted, people ignored the situation; “Cars were just driving around the accident blocking access to the ambulance.”

Sanyukta was taken to Albany Medical Center by TFD. Police forced the driver to move to the front passenger seat of his four-door 1990 blue Pontiac sedan and then confiscated his keys, several bystanders reported seeing. The windshield had a large crack on the front of it from the impact. Notebooks and a shoe were also found in the road and were believed to belong to Sanyukta.