Michael Zenick was seriously injured when he crashed a black Kawasaki motorcycle into the side of a Vineyard Haven house Sunday night at a little after 8 pm, according to police. The crash appears to be an accident caused by Zenick avoiding an animal in the road.
The motorcycle was traveling west on Skiff Avenue, just before Renear Street, when it crossed into the left lane, up onto a sidewalk, and went between a bush and utility pole before slamming into the house at 21 Skiff Ave., the report states. Green paint on Zenick’s helmet indicated that his head hit the house siding, police said.
When rescue crews arrived, Zenick was on the lawn next to the motorcycle, the report states.
Bob and Donna Tankard were home watching “Sunday Night Football” when they heard a violent crash.
“I was sitting in my chair, and all of a sudden my wife and I heard a loud boom and [felt] a shaking,” Bob Tankard said. “My wife screamed.” The Tankards went to one side of the house and saw nothing. When they went outside on the other side of the house, they found a person lying on the ground amids motorcycle debris: “It was shocking.”
Tankard said he assumed the person was dead. Zenick answered, “I can hear you,” Tankard recalled. “I said, Don’t move.”
His wife Donna then called 911. “He had to hit that house at 40 or 50 mph, because there was no skid marks,” Tankard said. “I was amazed he didn’t die. The only things that were really intact were the wheels. We’re still picking up pieces of the bike.”
Tankard thinks the main force of the motorcycle went into the foundation of the house, especially since none of the pictures came off the walls inside.
“It was amazing that the gas tank didn’t explode,” Tankard said. “It was dented, but it didn’t explode.”
Via their report, Tisbury police estimated the operator, Zenick, traveled about “100 feet without any attempted emergency braking or evasive actions” from the start of the crash sequence. “There were no skid marks on the road, or furrow marks in the … lawn. You could see a single line in the lawn showing the path of travel for the motorcycle,” according to the report.
The operator appears not to have suffered serious spinal injury, police said, because he had feeling in all his limbs and “could feel cold air as his jacket was cut away.”
When interviewed at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital later in the evening, Zenick told police he was attempting to avoid an animal and panicked, applying the gas and brake simultaneously. Police noted they did not detect any sign of intoxication.
Tisbury Fire Chief John Schilling said at some point after a Tisbury Ambulance crew delivered the motorcycle operator to the hospital, he was airlifted from the Vineyard. At the scene, Zenick told emergency responders he had back, groin, and hand pain.
McKenzie Ridings, a spokesman for Massachusetts General Hospital, said Zenick is listed in fair condition.
The accident remains under investigation, with no charges pending at this time.
U.S. Postal Service spokesman Steve Doherty confirmed Zenick is employed at the Edgartown Post Office as a clerk. On behalf of the Postal Service, Doherty wished Zenick a speedy recovery.