A man suffered a head injury Thursday morning after he lost control of the skateboard he was riding and struck a vehicle on the campus of Milligan College.
The man, whose name and age has not been released, was taken to the Johnson City Medical Center by members of the Carter County Emergency Rescue Squad.
Officers of the Elizabethton Police Department responded to the scene to investigate the crash, which happened around 9:30 a.m.
The man was riding his skateboard down Fife Drive and ran the stop sign at the intersection with Blowers Boulevard near the Gregory Center for the Liberal Arts, EPD Officer Robert Bradshaw said. After running the stop sign, the man lost control of the skateboard, falling off of it and into a silver Ford Mustang, Bradshaw said.
“The car did not hit him,” he said. “He fell off the skateboard and fell into the car. The (driver of the) car was doing nothing wrong. He was just driving up through here and the skateboarder ran out in front of him.”
Emergency medical personnel checked the man at the scene and transported him to a hospital for further treatment, Bradshaw said.
“He had a pretty good laceration to his forehead,” Bradshaw said. “Luckily he didn’t seem to be hurt very badly.”
“When you hear it’s a vehicle versus pedestrian ,you expect it to be a lot worse than this was,” he said.
While the driver of the Mustang was cleared in the accident, Bradshaw said charges against the skateboarder are pending until he completes his investigation into the crash.
“He may face charges for running the stop sign because he is required to obey traffic laws on a skateboard,” Bradshaw said. “But, he’s got a lot of other stuff going on right now and with his injuries he may have learned his lesson and a citation may not help.”
Bradshaw said he planned to speak with the man at the hospital before making a final decision on whether or not to issue him a citation for running the stop sign.