photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

An ambulance arrives at the intersection of 10th and Massachusetts streets just before the start of the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday, March 17, 2024. A person on the northwest corner had reportedly been hit by a scooter.

Updated at 11:23 a.m. Monday, March 18

A collision between a pedestrian and an electric scooter briefly delayed the start of Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade while emergency crews responded to the crowded scene downtown.

The crash occurred at Tenth and Massachusetts Streets just before the parade began near the northwest corner of the intersection. Both the scooter rider and the pedestrian ended up on the ground. The pedestrian and the scooter rider are “both expected to be OK,” according to a post on social media from the Lawrence Police Department.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical crews responded to the scene where one man was seen being transported via stretcher to an ambulance.

A witness reported to the Journal-World that she saw an electric scooter traveling down Massachusetts Street before it struck another man who was in the street. After the crash, both men were seen on the ground with what appeared to be bleeding head injuries.

Police on Monday told the Journal-World that the scooter driver was a 54-year-old man going southbound on Massachusetts Street who collided with an eastbound 74-year-old man in the crosswalk at 12:47 p.m.

The injuries were not life threatening, and alcohol was not investigated as a factor in the incident, according to Sgt. Drew Fennelly with the Lawrence Police Department.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

A person is taken on an stretcher to an ambulance at the corner of 10th and Massachusetts after a reported collision involving a pedestrian and a scooter on Sunday, March 17, 2024, just before the start of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.