A 16th Street Mall shuttle bus hit a woman crossing in the middle of the block on her lunch break Tuesday, knocking her on her face, witnesses said.
The woman, identified by a friend as 23-year-old Courtney Farrow, was in serious condition at a Denver hospital.
Farrow and Anita Gilbert, co-workers at TransMontaigne petroleum storage company, were crossing 16th Street between Court Place and Cleveland Place when Farrow was hit.
“He honked about two seconds before he hit her,” Gilbert said. “I’m just freaking out right now.”
The woman “stepped directly into the path” of the bus and the driver slammed on the brakes, said Scott Reed, spokesman for the Regional Transportation District. The driver will go through required testing for drug and alcohol use, Reed said.
Pedestrians often step in front of 16th Street shuttles, he said. “Our drivers do a very good job avoiding accidents,” Reed said.
In 2003, a man was killed after he slipped beneath a 16th Street Mall bus and was dragged.
