UPDATED: Father and son in electric dirt bike accident remain in critical condition

Updated July 15.

A father and his 6-year-old son riding an electric dirt bike were seriously injured in a collision with a pickup truck on Sea View Avenue in Oak Bluffs. The two were medevaced to a Boston trauma center on July 9, and remain in critical condition. 

The father and son, named on Saturday as Michael Ellis and his child, Nolan Ellis, are at Mass General Hospital in Boston for treatment. 

New details about the status of the father and son emerged after a GoFundMe was posted on Saturday by Dolores Borza, Michael Ellis’ mother and Nolan Ellis’ grandmother. According to Borza’s post, 6-year-old Nolan is in a medically induced coma with a brain bleed and two skull fractures. On the day of the accident, dispatchers advised police who were en route that CPR was being performed on Nolan, according to a press release from Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan M. Searle issued Friday. 

“Upon arrival, officers located two severely injured patients on the shared-use path that parallels Sea View Avenue. Lifesaving measures, which had been initiated by an off-duty nurse and bystanders at the scene, were immediately taken over and continued by arriving Police, Fire, and EMS personnel,” Searle said in the release. 

Nolan’s father, Michael, 38, is in critical condition after sustaining injuries in the crash, such as a broken wrist, ribs, arm, sternum, and upper jaw, along with liver and pancreas lacerations, a head injury, and a knee injury. As of Sunday, he’s in a medically induced coma as well, Borza said. 

Borza posted to social media Tuesday that Nolan’s doctors are going to begin trying to wake him up.

While a preliminary investigation and the press release by Searle said Michael was driving the electric dirt bike with Nolan “seated forward of him” at the time of the accident, Borza told The Times on Sunday that Michael’s 12-year-old son, Brian Ellis, was on a bike alongside his brother and father and witnessed the event. 

“Michael and Brian told me that Nolan was on the back of the bike,” Borza said. She added that they both said Nolan “had his helmet on.”

Borza said she’s shared updates online as they come and when she’s able. “I believe in the power of prayer,” she said. 

“While they focus on healing, Brenna [Nolan’s mother] is staying in Boston with Nolan, trying to be by his side every moment she can while also caring for their family. The emotional toll is unimaginable, and the financial burden is growing every day,” Borza wrote in the GoFundMe post, which has raised more than $80,000, as of Wednesday, July 15, at 11 am. 

Oak Bluffs Police, Fire, and EMS personnel were dispatched to the entrance of the Island Inn and Nomans Restaurant at around 8 pm Thursday. Massachusetts State Police troopers from the Oak Bluffs barracks responded to the scene as well. Troopers for Crime Scene Services and the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section (CARS) assisted with the investigation. 

Massachusetts State Police stated Thursday that the injuries appeared to be “life-threatening.” 

According to the press release Friday, the 38-year-old male operator (now identified as Michael) of the electric dirt bike, described as “an electric-powered, dirt-bike style motorcycle” by emergency officials, and his son were transported initially to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. The pair were then flown by the U.S. Coast Guard to Boston. 

A preliminary investigation by state and local police revealed the operator of the pickup truck was traveling southwest on Sea View Avenue (toward State Beach from Oak Bluffs) and was attempting to “negotiate” a right-hand turn into the parking lot of Nomans. The bike was traveling northeast on the shared-use path. The bike was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed when it collided with the front left corner of the pickup truck. 

Investigations remain ongoing.

“A thorough and comprehensive investigation into the factors surrounding this incident is actively underway. No information regarding potential criminal charges will be released until the investigation is concluded,” Searle said in the release. 

Police blocked off a large segment of the road near Nomans as they responded to the accident, turning away vehicles. One witness who was waiting in the line of cars, Gabrielle Whitcombe, said she’d “never seen so many EMS,” and offered prayers for the recovery of the patients.