O.C. teen’s mother charged in e-bike crash that killed 81-year-old

An Orange County mom faces an involuntary manslaughter cost within the dying of an 81-year-old man who died weeks after her son allegedly struck him with an electrical motorbike.

Ed Ashman, 81, died Thursday, two weeks after a 14-year-old boy doing wheelies on an e-motorcycle close to a highschool hit him, inflicting crucial accidents, the Orange County District Lawyer’s workplace mentioned.

Ashman, a Vietnam veteran and captain with the U.S. Marine Corps, had been strolling residence from his job as an alternative trainer on the college.

The boy’s mom, Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo, was arrested days after the accident and charged with little one endangerment, accent after the actual fact, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and offering false data to a peace officer.

After Ashman died, prosecutors added an involuntary manslaughter cost. She faces as much as seven years and eight months in jail if convicted on all counts, prosecutors mentioned.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies had beforehand warned Mejer that she might find yourself being charged criminally if she allowed her son to experience an digital motorbike. The units require a motorbike license to make use of, and riders should even be 16 or older. The boy’s electrical motorbike was a 2025 Surron Extremely Bee, marketed by Surron as able to reaching a prime velocity of 56 mph.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer has vowed to prosecute mother and father who enable their youngsters to experience e-motorcycles, or modify e-bikes to perform as such, calling the units a “loaded weapon.” Mejer is the third guardian Spitzer’s workplace has charged this yr for permitting their youngsters to experience electrical bikes illegally.

“An American hero who survived flying fight missions in Vietnam couldn’t survive strolling throughout the road in Lake Forest due to a 14-year-old little one who was allowed to experience an E-Motorbike that he ought to have by no means been using,” Spitzer mentioned in a press release. “If mother and father aren’t going to carry their youngsters accountable, then I’m going to carry mother and father accountable for hurting and killing harmless individuals whereas using unlawful motor automobiles.”