Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has honored a 16-year-old aspiring emergency medical technician from Cherry Hill for saving the life of a five-year-old boy who was struck by a dirt bike.
The mayor presented Phillip Ellison, a student at Vivian T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy, with a Mayoral citation Wednesday for rushing to help the youngster, who suffered injuries to his head and face.
Ellison said he was heading to his aunt’s house on June 6 when he saw the boy get struck on Round Road near Bethune Road.
“Part of his neck; the bike ran over,” Ellison said, “[along with] part of his face [and] the bike tipped over.”
Ellison visited the boy in the hospital who is in critical but stable condition. He also asked for signatures from his classmates for a get well card.
Fire Chief Niles Ford praised Ellison, who works as a pool attendant at the Cherry Hill Splash Park, for being “extremely humble.”
“It’s a whole lot different when you are working in an environment that you’re accustomed to around the swimming pool to being out somewhere and something like this happens and you have to jump straight in,” Ford said.
Ford added that he looks forward to having Ellison, who is part of the EMT program at Thomas, joining his department.
Glenda Ellison, Phillip’s mother, said he always wanted to be a first responder.
For now, her son, who has volunteered at the pool since he was 10, wears the blue shorts of an attendant, she said, but he’s working to become a lifeguard.
“He used to tell Mr. Bobby (one of the lifeguards). ‘I’m gonna wear those red shorts one day;” she said.
Both pool attendants and lifeguards are required to learn CPR according to the city Recreation and Parks Department.
Meanwhile, the operator of the dirt bike is still at large. The mayor has asked anyone with information about that person to call 410-396-2606.