Man sitting on bus bench critically injured when hit by truck

A 49-year-old man has lost a leg after he was struck on Monday while sitting on a bus bench by a pickup truck whose driver, an 18-year-old Burbank woman with a learner’s permit, lost control of the vehicle, police said.

The student driver was heading eastbound on Glenoaks Boulevard near Western Avenue around 8:30 a.m. when she lost control of the truck, subsequently crossing the center median and passing through the westbound lanes before hitting the man, said Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

The man was transported to the hospital with “severe lower-extremity injuries” and was reportedly in critical condition, Lightfoot said. One of his legs was reportedly amputated, and doctors performed surgery in an attempt to save his other leg.

The driver, whose truck also hit a wall, had a learner’s permit and was accompanied in the car by her father, Lightfoot said. There was no indication she was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, she added.

The investigation remains ongoing.