Michael Alan Davis, a Norwich native, died Monday after a pickup truck collided with the dirt bike he was riding. Davis’s two friends were injured in the Voluntown crash.

VOLUNTOWN — Jack Cipriano responded to a fatal crash on Monday after his injured son asked a passing motorist to call him.
“I never want to experience anything like that in my life again,” Cipriano said of the scene where a pick-up truck hit three dirt bikes on Ekonk Hill Road (Route 49) near his home in Volunteertown. “It was just awful.”

Michael Alan Davis, 28, of Norwich, was pronounced dead at Backus Hospital shortly after the crash, which Connecticut State Police said occurred around 7:30 p.m. Brett Collins, 26, of Niantic, was seriously injured, while Jace Cipriano, 20, of Taftville, Norwich, suffered minor injuries, according to his father.

Edward Boyle, 64, of Griswold, was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck south when it collided with the three men on dirt bikes, according to police. A fourth rider escaped injury, according to police, but Jack Cipriano claims that man, identified in the police report as George Etzel, 25, of Voluntown, pulled his injured friends off the road and was “covered in blood” when Cipriano arrived.

Michael’s father, Scott Davis, said his son grew up in Norwich and graduated from Norwich Free Academy. Scott Davis stated that he and his son worked together at New York Bus Sales in Waterford and had last seen Michael on Monday when they delivered a van to the Canterbury School District.

Michael, who has a brother, was single, his father stated. Scott Davis described his passion as dirt bike riding.

“Every day when the sun was out,” he said.

Funeral arrangements are being made, but Davis stated that the family intends to postpone the service until Collins is well enough to attend.

The four friends were fishing and riding trails in Voluntown when Collins’ Talaria TL 4000 e-bike battery died, according to Jack Cipriano. Cipriano stated that the crash occurred while they were on their way to his home on James Road.

Davis and Jace Cipriano, riding gas-powered bikes, were pulling Collins while he hung onto their jackets and rode slowly south on the roadside, according to Jack Cipriano.

According to Cipriano, Davis was the farthest to the left and received the brunt of the Ford’s impact. He checked on Collins at the hospital and discovered that he had broken bones and other injuries, but was still conscious and talking, according to Cipriano. His son had no fractures, just road rash on his arms, and “he was limping around a little bit,” Jack Cipriano explained.

“These kids are mentally distraught,” Cipriano said.

Unrelated to the crash, state police confirmed Wednesday that Boyle, who was unable to be reached, is on the state’s sex offender registry. According to published reports, he was convicted of murder and multiple rapes in Manchester between the 1970s and 1980s. According to the Associated Press, Boyle served 19 years in prison for the murder of Louisa Scott, 20, who was strangled and dumped in Coventry’s Skungamaug River in May 1980, as well as the rapes of five other women.