LEWISTON — It made for unusual police scanner traffic Tuesday: Just before 2 p.m., a car struck a pedestrian on Russell Street near Russell Park Rehabilitation & Living Center, stopped, scooped up the victim and took off.

“She did hit a person, but not bad — and then put her right in the car and took her to the hospital,” Lt. Adam Higgins said. “On the way, the driver called police and told police what had occurred, so they went to the hospital and took the accident report there.”

The victim’s injuries were “maybe … bumps and bruises,” Higgins said. And the driver isn’t in trouble.

Even if she did drive off with a stranger after hitting her.

“It happens, I guess,” Higgins said. “I don’t think it’s that usual. Usually they’d wait, but this person probably said, ‘I’ll go with you,’ and took her.” 

Higgins added, “The woman who jumped in the car with her obviously felt comfortable that it wasn’t some sort of abduction or anything.”

It helped that the driver called to report it on the way, Higgins said.

“It wasn’t like she was leaving the scene; she was just trying to help the lady out after hitting her,” he said

No further information was available Tuesday.