A University of St. Thomas senior who was hit Saturday morning by a car as he was riding his bike on Cleveland Avenue in St. Paul is in intensive care and has a traumatic brain injury, his family said on its Caring Bridge profile.

Evan Steeves, an electrical engineering major from Maple Grove, was riding his bike near St. Thomas at around 11:45 a.m. Saturday when a car hit him. The impact threw Steeves into the windshield, and the right side of his head took the impact, his father wrote on the website.

On Sunday afternoon Mark Steeves wrote that his 21-year-old son had responded to ­doctor's commands.

"On a positive note, the neurosurgeon called us on the phone when we arrived at the ICU last night and told us Evan had responded to commands. He gave a thumbs-up with his left hand and wiggled his toes when asked. The doctor saw this as very positive and called him a very strong young man," the update read.

The university e-mailed a news release that the family is "asking for prayers for Evan and for the driver who hit him." There was a prayer service at the university's chapel Sunday evening.

Karen Zamora