Worcester County teen continues to fight for life after hit-and-run at Bikefest | Latest News

OCEAN CITY, Maryland — 16-year-old Tyler Walsh was struck by a motorcycle on Friday, Sept. 13, highlighting an event that has seen a spike in collisions.

Bikefest is over. It is a loud and well-attended event that this year leaves an ugly memory for those close to Walsh.

“We're doing better than we were on Friday,” said Dalton Henderson, one of Walsh's best friends. “We've been getting a lot of updates that he's getting better and better. We all know he's in the best place he can be. We're just concerned and obviously want to know what's going on.”

Tyler's accident also caught the attention of the people of Ocean City. Melanie Walker was driving down Philadelphia Avenue when she noticed Tyler's family setting up teddy bears at the scene of the accident. These bears were hung with ribbons in Tyler's favorite color, orange.

“I turned around and came because it just breaks my heart that this young man is in such a bad way right now,” Walker said.

Ocean City Police have provided us with data showing that this year's event had more collisions than last year, but was safer in some ways.

Data breakdown: (2023/2024)

Officer CFS (calls to duty): 500/502

Citizens-CFS: 261/301

Total CFS: 761/803

Traffic controls: 147/179

Traffic fines: 157/108

Traffic warnings: 130/154

Total traffic monitoring: 287/262

Collisions: 17.12.

Total number of arrests: 32/20

Arrests for drug offenses: 3/2

Arrests for possession of weapons: 2/4

Drunk driving arrests: 8/4

The collisions also included a separate incident in which a motorcyclist had to be airlifted to the Shock Trauma Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following an accident on the Coastal Highway.

On Philadelphia Avenue, the orange ribbons and T-shirts worn by Henderson and Caden Shepard, another of Walsh's best friends, show the support he receives from his friends and family.

“He's not going to let something like this discourage him. He knows what he has to do and that's what he's doing. We're all on his side,” Shepard said.

Walsh is a junior at Stephen Decatur High School. Worcester County Public Schools sent us the following:

“The entire Worcester County Public Schools community sends their thoughts and prayers to Tyler and his family during this difficult time. Additionally, we have activated several resources for our impacted students to ensure they receive the emotional support they need. While we are grateful to our entire community for their continued support, we politely ask that everyone respect the space and quiet our students and staff need to process these difficult circumstances.”

There was no special event zone in Ocean City. The zones lower the speed limit and give the police more powers to keep traffic calm.

Regarding the reasons why no zone was established, OCPD Captain James Grady, Commander of the Patrol Division, gave us the following explanation:

The answer is that we could bring the Special Event Zone into play during Bike Week. To date, we have not set one up during Bike Week because it has not been necessary during Bike Week. “Bike Week participants are, for the most part, well behaved on the road and do not pose a public safety risk to the city and people on the roads,” commented Captain James Grady.

“During the auto races, we have seen an increase in traffic violations such as speeding, racing, aggressive driving, spinning tires and careless driving. We do not usually see these traffic-related violations during Bike Week. Also, during the auto races, we have a large number of spectators gathering along the roads to watch the auto activities. During Bike Week, not as many spectators gather along the roads. One of the measures of a SEZ is to lower the speed limit throughout the city, which makes the large crowd of spectators gathering along the highways safer.”

There is a Motor Event Task Force meeting next week, so this might be discussed there. I'm not 100% sure if it's on the agenda or not, but Chief Buzzuro usually gives a quick update on Bike Week.