GUILDERLAND — No charges were brought against a Guilderland man who hit a pedestrian on Western Avenue last Friday, putting an Albany man in the hospital, according to Guilderland Police.

Near 10 p.m., Tommy Chen, 19, struck a pedestrian on Western Avenue east of Gipp Road as he was driving west in his 2003 Honda Accord. The man he hit, Henry Morrison, 41, was crossing the road when the accident occurred, police told The Enterprise yesterday.
"He was crossing the road in the area of Westmere Plaza"[Chen] basically struck him with the front of the car and dragged him a short distance," said Officer Eric Batchelder of the Guilderland Police Department, who helps investigate accidents in the town.

Morrison was transported to Albany Medical Center by the Western Turnpike Rescue Squad and was listed as being in stable condition on Tuesday. The front end of Chen’s car was damaged, including damage to the front bumper, hood, and windshield, police say.

Morrison was walking north across Western Avenue, not in a designated crosswalk or at an intersection, and was struck while in the middle of the road. Batchelder said Chen was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and that speed was not a factor in the accident.

Personal-injury pedestrian auto-accidents are not all that common in Guilderland, but do sometimes happen along the town’s busy avenue, according to Batchelder.
"The investigation is being wrapped up," Batchelder told The Enterprise.