A professor is recovering after he was hit in a crosswalk outside the Hornet Bookstore Thursday night, and officers are paying closer attention to the area.

William Thornburg, a professor in the Sacramento State physics and astronomy department, was going to retrieve books from his car at approximately 6 p.m. when he was hit by a maroon truck, according to witnesses at the scene.

“He was crossing in the crosswalk, and a car came along at about 25 mph,” said Darren Mounts, a senior majoring in communication studies.

Thornburg was thrown 25 feet and rushed to the UC Davis Medical Center, where he was kept until Saturday morning.

“This is a nasty kind of thing; the cuts are hurting” Thornburg said from his hospital room Friday.

The professor’s right side was very sore, and he had stitches in his head. Thornburg has no memory of the accident, and passers-by filled in details.

“[The victim] was already on the ground when I got here,” said Alex Arce, a computer science graduate student. “I parked so that nobody would run him over.”

Traffic quickly backed up from the Hornet Bookstore to the Guy West Bridge and parking officials directed vehicles around the accident scene. Emergency crews from several agencies, including the Sacramento Fire Department and Campus Police, were called to assist.

As of Monday afternoon, Thornburg was resting at home and would not return to campus for the rest of this week, according to Heidi Yamazaki in the physics and astronomy department.

“He’s eager to get back, but he’s a little sore,” Yamazaki said.Thornburg’s main concern was that such a thing not be repeated.

“They should do a little less parking enforcement and have higher elevation in safety concern,” he said. “If someone else can see this, it may make them drive more cautiously.”

The area of Thornburg?s accident has drawn safety concerns from various members of the campus community.

“I wrote a memo about that area years ago,” said Rachel Brault, physics and astronomy department secretary.

Campus police have stepped up patrols in that area, according to Public Information Officer John Hamrick.

“The patrol officers have been assigned to conduct extra traffic enforcement with special attention to speed enforcement in that area,” Hamrick said Monday.

The driver who hit Thornburg was not cited at the scene, but the incident is still under investigation. He could still be cited for “inattention and unsafe” speed, according to Hamrick.

Barrett Lyon contributed to this article.