Island shaken by another moped fatality

The Island community is reeling again after the death of another tourist in a tragic moped accident.

Julie Harris, a 41-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and whose family described her as a beautiful soul, died after the moped she had rented collided head-on with a Jeep last Thursday morning on Sea View Avenue, on the Oak Bluffs side of Big Bridge. 

A passenger on the moped, 40-year-old Anya Fisher of Boston, was also critically injured. Local officials say that she was in stable condition when she was flown off-Island for medical attention.

Witnesses describe first responders using tourniquets to help save the moped victims, and bystanders that were traveling to a work site — two Eversource employees — applied CPR, but Harris died at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital shortly after the report of the accident. 

The tragic event has brought renewed attention to a longstanding effort at the state level to ban moped rentals in Oak Bluffs, which seems to have died on Beacon Hill for what is now a second time. Some town officials and residents are calling for alternatives to an all-out rental ban — potentially requiring a motorcycle license to operate a rented moped, or for more training requirements at rental agencies.

A full picture of what caused the accident is still coming together. As of Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police are still investigating the fatal accident, and have not released any details. According to local police, a call came in at about 11:30 am, reporting a serious collision on Sea View Avenue. 

Oak Bluffs Police who responded to the scene say that multiple witnesses explained that the moped was traveling toward Edgartown near Big Bridge when the driver suddenly swerved into the opposite lane of traffic. The moped then collided head-on with a white Jeep Wrangler going in the opposite direction.

According to Oak Bluffs Police, witnesses told police that the Jeep was being operated safely prior to the crash. No life-threatening injuries were reported to individuals in the Jeep.

According to witnesses interviewed by The Times, some of the first people to arrive on the scene were a pair of Eversource employees, who happened to be Island volunteer firefighters. Edward Michael (“Mike”) Parker, an Aquinnah volunteer firefighter, and Derek Nagengast, an Oak Bluffs firefighter, were on their way to an Eversource job site in Oak Bluffs when they came upon the scene.

According to their Eversource supervisor, Parker jumped into action, giving some bystanders at the accident instructions on how to help. He began providing CPR to Harris, while Nagengast held her head and neck and maintained the airway. Emergency responders eventually arrived on the scene and took over.

Oak Bluffs Police say that Harris died at the hospital shortly after she was transported. Police reported that witnesses said the moped passengers were not wearing helmets at the time of the accident; helmets were found at the scene. 

The department also said that the moped was rented in Oak Bluffs.

This is the Vineyard’s third fatal moped crash in the past 10 years, during which there have also been several serious moped accidents.

In August 2021, a young woman was killed, and her passenger, a young man, was seriously injured when their moped collided with an oncoming SUV on Chilmark’s South Road. They were riding in a group of three mopeds. Police reported that the passenger claimed the moped would not turn.

In July 2014, a young man died when he lost control of his moped and collided with a pickup truck on Chilmark’s South Road.

A caring soul

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Colleagues, friends and family described Harris as a kind spirit who was full of positive energy.

Harris grew up in a suburb north of Chicago; she was the senior marketing communications manager and public education director at DeNova Detect, a natural-gas alarm company. She had moved to Florida during the pandemic, according to her colleagues, and was recently visiting the Cape and Islands on vacation.

“She was just one of the sweetest souls you would ever meet,” Brianna Cefaratti, a cousin of Harris, said when reached for comment in Florida. 

Cefaratti said that the two were very close. The last time she saw her cousin was during Cefaratti’s baby shower a few months ago.

As a testament to Harris’ generosity, Cefaratti said that her cousin had recently called her about helping a man in Florida who had just lost his housing. The two bought him groceries, water, and other goods. “We got him two huge bags of food and gave him some money, because he was getting kicked out of a hotel he was staying at,” Cefaratti said. “That’s who she was. She would help anyone. She would give the shirt off her back.”

Co-workers of Harris also described her as caring.

“Not only was Julie a hardworking, dedicated, and accomplished professional dedicated to promoting public safety, she was also a sweet soul,” COO of DeNova Detect Ron Lazarus said in a statement to local media.

Harris was also the founder and CEO of a not-for-profit group called Exceptional Women’s Network, a group dedicated to supporting and nurturing female leadership.

“That’s who she was; she was always uplifting other women,” Cefaratti said of her cousin.

Legislative failures

With the death of Harris, there has already been discussion of reinvigorating efforts to ban moped rentals, an effort that has so far failed to muster lawmaker support. The town of Oak Bluffs voted at town meeting in 2018 to send a home-rule petition to lawmakers in favor of the ban. When that bill failed, voters again approved a petition in 2021.

In May, the most recent attempt was sent to study; then the formal legislative session ended in July, effectively meaning that if Oak Bluffs wants to pass a ban on rental mopeds, it’ll have to go back to town meeting for a third time.

“It’s really a shame,” said Timothy Rich, former Chilmark Police chief and a longtime advocate for banning moped rentals on the Vineyard. “If we have to go through the whole process again, this will be the third time.” 

For Rich, the onus lies on state lawmakers for not getting the bill passed, despite widespread support for the measure on the Island. But he also said there’s a lack of leadership from the town’s select board to push the bill across the finish line. He noted that at the most recent hearing on the bill at the State House, no one spoke from Oak Bluffs. State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, representative to the Islands, offered testimony, and the town wrote in testimony, but Rich noted that no one from the town spoke in person. Rich said that he’s gotten support from Island fire, police and EMS chiefs; town meetings in all six towns have passed nonbinding referendums in support of the ban on moped rentals; and he referenced surveys showing near-unanimous support for the measure on the Island.

“This has been a failure of leadership on the Oak Bluffs select board,” Rich said. “The voters are looking to them to guide them. Now a beautiful woman is dead.”

Oak Bluffs select board chair Gail Barmakian, when reached by phone, would not comment other than to say that the board will likely take the issue up at a board meeting in the near future.

Select board member Mark Leonard, reached on Tuesday, said that the town needs to re-engage with state lawmakers to get action moving again on the state bill.

“It’s time to take action,” Leonard said, referencing the recent fatal accident. 

While the state bill has failed to gain traction, Leonard said that there are steps that the board could consider taking to make roads safer. He suggested the board look into alternatives while also trying to get something passed by state lawmakers. “We need to look at alternatives, from licensing to having more requirements,” Leonard said.

Reached for comment, local state lawmakers say that they have been supportive of the measure to ban rentals in Oak Bluffs.

Senator Julian Cyr said that the town’s proposed rental ban would have a better chance of passing at the state level if there was a unified voice from all the Island towns. He suggested that all six towns pass a home-rule petition at town meeting similar to Oak Bluffs’.

“We supported this home-rule petition since it was originally filed,” Cyr said. “I do think we have work to do to continue to make the case for what would be considered a relatively novel policy, targeting one mode of transportation that makes sense for the Island.” 

Rich, responding to Cyr, said that towns have spoken in a unified voice in favor of a rental ban. 

“I have a nonbonding referendum that every town meeting voted in favor of, and voted through at the ballot,” Rich said. “Get this done.”

Rich is a member of the group Mopeds Are Dangerous Action Committee, which has pushed for changes to help reduce moped accidents. In 2014, a moped driver was killed after losing control of a moped and crashing into a pickup driven by Rich’s son. Rich says that every time there’s a moped accident reported in the news, his son has flashbacks. He tells The Times that he’s in it for the long haul to bring about change.

“As long as I draw breath, I will continue to fight to get moped rentals off the Island,” he said.

Julia Goujiamanis contributed to this report.