<p>HImom,
As a fellow USC mom I am OUTRAGED at the incompetence displayed by the security staff. If it had been my D I would have called and sent an email to the Pres of USC, which I still suggest you do. If allowed to, the sloth-like-bureaucracies at USC will allow the security staff to cover up their ineffective, and self serving actions. You need to go to the top, IMHO</p>
<p>We did send a letter & have a T/C with the VP’s of Student Affairs Office today. I guess I could also send a CC to President Sample’s office too.</p>
<p>Driver was in uniform but driving an unmarked vehicle. Don’t know what she said, but suspect she told them what she told us, that she didn’t know what happened between the time the bike was hit & finding herself lying on the ground. </p>
<p>Any time a cyclist is hit by a car and and found lying on the ground, it should be assumed there MAY be some head injury, regardless of what the person lying on the ground may say (teens & young adults are famous for denying any problem & trying to tough things out). </p>
<p>I think D was just too stunned to do anything other than get herself home in one piece. She had assumed they were writing an incident report as they asked her questions and she DID answer them, as they were uniformed and appeared to be acting officially. They did their best to blame her and told her to “Be more careful.” Normally, she pretty much expects folks to “do the right thing.” She had never been in an accident before & was pretty dazed by everything.</p>
<p>I do expect that the VP’s office will follow up and be sure that we get more information promptly. I did have a conversation with them this morning and they do appear to be taking it seriously. If they don’t, I will pursue it with the local police via a formal complaint.</p>
<p>FWIW, even rental cars can be traced and the rental car company will help you nail the person responsible. The cops could have followed up if you wanted them to.</p>
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<p>Oh so this was USC - well that certainly explains the incompetence… and the shadiness lol</p>
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<p>If it was a university vehicle, then they are being extremely shady (I know, my new favorite word) in not filing a report in an apparent effort to cover it up.</p>
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<p>Yeah, then they really needed to call an ambulance - as I said before, they aren’t qualified to determine if she was mentally able to refuse care. By not letting qualified medical personnel make this determination, they assumed liability for any medical problems.</p>
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<p>Agreed.</p>
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<p>And she should certainly have that expectation of two security officers from her own school. But even in a case like this, she should make it a habit to grab a piece of paper and pen and make her own record of things, unless she is physically unable.</p>
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<p>Oh I know - never said they didn’t follow up. I worked for a police department for 4 years (and was still working there when this happened), so I had plenty of advice/help from my officer friends with this one.</p>
<p>As a student I hope you follow up on this. This sounds like the actions of an incompentent security person and the school needs to know so they can fire him. I have only had excellent experiences with the DPS drivers – one took my roommate to the hospital emergency room and picked us up later, etc. But if there is a jerk on the force then Campus Security needs to know so they can get him off campus. Hope you decide to follow-up on this immediately before too much time passes. Good luck!!</p>
<p>OK, just finished faxing a letter to the President of the university. Yea, she would normally have tried to write things down but she was pretty stunned by everything. I am more troubled now that it is clear no incident report was ever filed, which is why I decided to send the follow up letter to the president.</p>
<p>'If they don’t, I will pursue it with the local police via a formal complaint."
What is the reason the police weren’t called in the first place? It’s too late to get them involved, unless multiple witnesses will be willing to collaborate what your D says happened. I still feel there is NO reason to NOT let Pres. Sample know what happened. She was hit by USC security forces!! You think he would NOT like to know about THAT ??You can and should mention that you have been in touch with the VP of Student affairs, but believe me, that person has no sway over the security office.</p>
<p>I would be very surprised if the President doesn’t already know about this. This is VERY serious and, if the VP hasn’t alerted the Pres, then the VP isn’t doing his/her job either.</p>
<p>The students were dissuaded by the uniformed DPS driver who said DPS had already been called so no one pursued calling 911. Anyway, I feel I have done my all by writing a letter, including info that there was no incident report and that the USC families I have spoken with are all extremely upset by all of this. The attorney we spoke with in SF also happens to be a USC dad–his D lives in the same apartment building as my D and we do expect to hear more.</p>
<p>Himom, I have forwarded this thread to someone in a position of authority at USC. If Samples somehow doesn’t get your fax, or hasn’t heard about this incident, he will hear about it now, I guarantee it.</p>
<p>I suspect your D’s refusal of treatment has to do with our normal “denial” of problems - if we say everything is okay, then it is, right? I was mugged in college, and a police car passed me as it was happening, and I ignored the police car. Afterwards I realized that I was firmly in the mental process of denying that anything bad was happening, so my brain didn’t acknowledge my need for help. One thing I’ve learned is that you just cannot predict how you will respond in any emergency situation. People who say, “I would have …” just don’t know until it happens.</p>
<p>One thing almost every student has is a cell phone, and many of those have cameras. I would be interested to find out if any of those students thought to take pictures. It would be great if your D or someone else had immediately photographed the bike and the vehicle, and even the people involved.</p>
<p>I was clipped by a car once, and the first thing I did after we stopped was take photos of my car and his, including license plate. You just never know how someone’s story might change later on.</p>
<p>Binx- ITA.
Earlier this year I had a concussion, but while ( I don’t think) I didn’t lose consciousness, I was pretty stunned for hours and it was only when the pain increased and didn’t go away that I went to the hospital to get checked out.
( It was bad enough that I was on heavy meds for two weeks for pain)</p>
<p>Also when you have a head injury ( and I can’t believe that she wasn’t wearing a helmet- thankfully my daughter and her friends are very good about wearing helmets and some have the destroyed helmets as a reminder that that could have been their head), you aren’t thinking clearly at all, ( of course once you are on the Vicodin, that doesn’t help much 
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<p>The accident could have been caused by your D, or the driver, or both. But not ensuring that she get prompt medical care ought to be a severe breach of policy. This course of action could have resulted in her death or disability. (And I’m so glad that she appears to be fine!) This is compounded by the fact that they used their position to persuade students not to call for medical help AND then failed to file an incident report.</p>
<p>Clipping a possibly not well lit bicyclist at night is one thing, and could happen to even a very careful driver. Not getting medical attention for an accident victim and not reporting it puts the whole thing in another category. It’s good that you are pursuing this. It could save someone else’s life.</p>
<p>Yes, we’re very concerned about how future incidents are handled and that DPS makes sure that other people involved in accidents don’t suffer the same fate. I really think that medical attention should be a policy when a car collides with a bicycle, regardless of whether the cyclist requests it or not, especially when the bicyclist ends up lying on the ground. Things could have been much worse and will not improve unless the school & campus security make it happen.</p>
<p>Students (and others) are often worried about cost when they refuse medical treatment and people involved in accidents are often stunned during and directly after an accident. When in doubt, the safest policy would be to err on the side of caution and ensure that appropriate medical care is rendered immediately.</p>
<p>Don’t believe D was in any position to take any pictures but will see if she happened to get license plate # by any chance. If place an ad in the school paper, they probably could get Ws to come forward who would remember the accident and MAY have noted license or taken a photo, but I don’t know.</p>
<p>I was the driver in an accident with a bike. Hard to say whether it was anyone’s fault. The cyclist, a 14 year old girl, appeared uninjured. I ended up going back with her to the school office. They called the police. I was told under no uncertain terms that it is a crime to not report such an incident even if it appears no one was injured and there was no damage to the vehicle.<br>
The driver in this case could be in a heap of trouble.</p>
<p>Girls also have a tendency to be people pleasers who don’t want to make waves. It is so deeply ingrained we might say we are okay, even while we are taking stock to see if that is true. I understand her dismissing the offered medical care, but the fact they did not just provide it anyway, and then attempted to cover the whole thing up is inexcusable. I hope the school addresses this as the serious situation it is.</p>
<p>When a stunned and perhaps clueless driver doesn’t call the police or the paramedics in such a situation, it’s one thing. When a member of a campus security force, whose job is to protect the safety of students, deal with emergencies, gather witness reports, make incident reports, and follow up, but who instead, with the complicity of a co-worker, does none of those things and sneaks away, trying to remain anonymous, it’s another thing altogether. </p>
<p>IMHO, this needs to investigated both by the police and by the university, and the so-called campus security guards need to be fired.</p>
<p>Nester–your PM box is full; can’t send you a message.</p>
<p>HImom – Sorry about that. I just deleted a bunch of old stuff and opened it up.</p>
<p>I think the VP of Student Affairs will get to the bottom of this. I’m frankly shocked that a DPS officer would be so incompetant, I personally have had nothing but good experiences with DPS. These officers showed extremely poor judgment and need to be severely punished if not fired.</p>
<p>As for getting your daughter to wear a helmet, good luck. I’ve never seen a student riding a bike wear a helmet and trust me there are tons of bikes on campus.</p>
<p>My husband was a competitive cyclist when he was younger and required multiple surgeries after crashing during a race. If he hadn’t been wearing a helmet he would be dead, clear and simple. Even after seeing her father go through surgery and rehab (and being nagged by her mother relentlessly) my D did not wear a helmet EVER for the two years she was attending Oxford. Bikes are the main form of transportation and for those who haven’t been there, the bike lanes are seemingly two feet wide with huge buses barrelling down the road right next to you. Stupid, stupid girl - I just don’t understand how someone so bright could be so stupid. </p>
<p>Sorry to steal the thread for a minute. The kid has finished her degree, been home for almost six months and I am still ticked about it. </p>
<p>OP, I am so happy that your daughter was ok. (BTW, my husband fully recovered. He is full of titanium plates and screws, but fine.)</p>