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Shortly before noon on August 15, Troopers assigned to Oak Bluffs Barracks responded to reports of a two-vehicle crash with serious injuries on Seaview Avenue in Oak Bluffs. Upon arrival, emergency personnel discovered a moped and a Jeep Wrangler that were involved in an apparent head-on crash.
The preliminary investigation indicates that a moped and Jeep were traveling on Seaview Ave in opposite directions. As they approached each other, the operator of the moped lost control, crossed the median, and collided with the Jeep.
The collision caused the moped's operator, Julia Harris, 41, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a 40-year-old female passenger from Boston to be thrown to the ground. Harris succumbed to her injuries at the scene of the crash and the passenger was air lifted to a Boston area hospital where she is now in stable condition. Witness statements, as well as video footage in the area, reveal both occupants of the moped were wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
The operator of the Jeep, a 41-year-old woman from Newark, N.J., was not injured in the crash. The Jeep was also occupied by four other adult women, one of whom suffered minor injuries.
The exact cause and circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation by members of State Police-Oak Bluffs, Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, and Crime Scene Services. Troopers were on scene investigating the crash until approximately 7 p.m. No further information is available at this time.
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