A Kent State student was struck by a SUV on Tuesday in what Lt. Jim Prusha of the Kent Police Department said is a far too common type of accident in the city.

Senior computer science major Zhengliang Feng was standing in an eastbound turning lane on E. Main St. near Holly Park Apartments when he was struck by a white Ford, according to the police report filed by Officer Bowen. Feng was not in a crosswalk.

“There’s too many pedestrian accidents, and I’m actually surprised there aren’t more,” Prusha said. “If you drive down E. Main St. or E. Summit St. some people aren’t very careful when they’re walking around roadways or crossing roadways. We get too many.”

No charges have been filed against either party.

Prusha said that according to the police report, “Under contributing circumstances (from the driver) it says ‘None,’ so there wouldn’t be anything to charge the driver with if he didn’t do anything wrong.”

While Feng could be cited for jaywalking, Prusha said, “It was improper crossing, so a lot of the time when a pedestrian gets hit and injured, we feel that that’s a lesson on crossing improperly and we don’t need to throw a ticket on him, too. So hopefully the fact that he got injured will help him to cross better in the future.”

Feng suffered “incapacitating” injuries, and blood spatters were on the pavement after the accident according to the police report. Prusha said the Kent Fire Department took Feng to Robinson Memorial Hospital. Feng was then transferred to Akron City Hospital, where a nurse said he is in stable condition after previously suffering from trauma and will be released Thursday evening.

Prusha reminds pedestrians to use proper etiquette when walking downtown and around campus to stay safe and prevent further accidents. Be smart: Look both ways before crossing the street, use crosswalks, use sidewalks, walk opposed to traffic on the side of the road when sidewalks aren’t available, and just be more observant.

Contact Kelsey Husnick at [email protected].