The Las Vegas community is mourning the loss of 10-year-old Marquis Abraham, a Cortez Elementary School student and energetic football player for the Las Vegas Wolverines, whose life was cut short in a tragic e-scooter collision involving a pickup truck last Thursday afternoon. The Wolverines honored their late teammate on Saturday by wearing shirts bearing his image and placing stickers with his name on their helmets; the team released balloons before kickoff in a poignant gesture of remembrance, with players visibly emotional at the prospect of playing without number 3, according to FOX5 Vegas.
Marquis's mother, Portia Wales, surrounded by a supportive community, and through her grief, remembered her son as "a good boy, everybody loved him, he was a mama's boy," according to her words during an interview with FOX5 Vegas. Coach Kenny Ford mentioned that Marquis's presence was palpable during the game, saying, "He’s still here, I checked him in today as being here, but he’s here in spirit, yeah, he’s here in spirit," and a GoFundMe page has since been organized by Wales to bring her son's body "back home" to Chicago, Illinois.
In tandem with the personal loss felt by the Abraham family and the Wolverines, there is a broader concern over the safety of young e-scooter and e-bike riders, illustrated starkly by the fact that this incident is part of a larger, disturbing trend—about 35% of students hit by cars this school year have been involved with e-bikes or e-scooters, as per new data from CCSD Police reported by KTNV. The Clark County Coroner's Office confirmed the identity of the child to Channel 13, while local parents, such as Britanie Gerard, express the necessity of heightened awareness and communication about road safety, suggesting the responsibility is shared between drivers, parents, and children.
Cortez Elementary School's Principal Lin Soriano circulated a letter advising parents to watch for signs of grief and to keep lines of communication open with their children. This message sympathizes with the recent bereavement, while Lt. Cody Fulwiler of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police emphasizes the need for parents to discuss the rules of the road with their kids, reinforcing the gravitas of the situation—this year marks the 130th traffic death within Metro Police's jurisdiction, as noted by KTNV. Clark County schools and various local law enforcement agencies formed a "School Traffic Safety Working Group" earlier in the year in response to rising concerns, which aims to find better ways to safeguard young commuters.
