Updated July 10, 2 pm.
A father and his six-year-old son riding an electric dirt bike were seriously injured in a collision with a pickup truck Thursday night on Sea View Avenue in Oak Bluffs. The two were medevaced to a Boston trauma center. Local police said their medical conditions are currently unknown, as of Friday afternoon.
Oak Bluffs Police, Fire, and EMS personnel were dispatched to the entrance of the Island Inn and Nomans Restaurant at around 8 pm.
Dispatchers advised police, who were en route, that CPR was being performed on the child, according to a press release from Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan M. Searle.
“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.
According to the release, the 38-year-old male operator of the electric dirt bike, described as “an electric powered, dirt-bike style motorcycle,” and his son were initially transported to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital before being flown by the U.S. Coast Guard to Boston.
According to Massachusetts State Police, the injuries appeared to be “life-threatening.”
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.
According to the press release, a preliminary investigation revealed the operator of the pickup truck was traveling southwest on Sea View Avenue 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 operator had his son seated in front of him on the electric dirt bike, according to the release. The bike was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed when it collided with the front left corner of the pickup truck.
Investigations are ongoing, the release stated.
“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.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include details from an Oak Bluffs Police press release, and reflect that the bike was an electric dirt bike not an e-bike.