10-year-old Holbrook boy seriously injured in Lake Ronkonkoma e-bike crash

Mason Mereroa, a 10-year-old from Holbrook, was seriously injured Thursday night in a crash on Patchogue-Holbrook Road in Lake Ronkonkoma that put Suffolk County’s e-bike safety debate back on the road where it started: with a child and a busy suburban turn lane.

Suffolk County police said the crash happened about 8:30 p.m. near Richard Place, when a 2020 Porsche Macan driven by Osman Siddique, 27, of Ronkonkoma, was heading south on Patchogue-Holbrook Road and making a right turn onto Richard Place. At the same time, police said, Mason was riding a 2025 e-bike northbound in the southbound shoulder service lane when the SUV struck him.

Mason was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. Siddique was not hurt.

The collision lands at a moment when Suffolk has already moved to clamp down on e-bikes and e-scooters. The Suffolk County Legislature approved companion local laws on Dec. 16, 2025, and County Executive Ed Romaine signed them on Dec. 30. County officials began enforcing the rules in April 2026.

Those measures were built around a concern lawmakers said they could no longer ignore: under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, electric-assist bicycles and electric scooters are permitted for people 16 and older. Suffolk’s rules also require helmets and prohibit sidewalk riding.

That makes Mason’s crash more than a single traffic investigation. It raises the same hard questions parents, schools and local officials have been wrestling with across Suffolk: whether younger children are being allowed onto faster electric bikes before they are ready, whether families understand where those bikes can legally go, and whether road design leaves too little margin for error when a child is riding near a service lane and a turning vehicle.

The details of the crash also point to the risks built into local streets that mix cars, shoulders and side roads with little separation. Police said Mason was traveling in the southbound shoulder service lane while the Porsche turned right onto Richard Place, a maneuver that left little room for either rider or driver to avoid impact.

For Suffolk families, the crash is a reminder that the county’s new enforcement push is not abstract. It is aimed at the kind of scene that unfolded in Lake Ronkonkoma, where a child on an e-bike and a driver making a familiar turn collided in seconds, and where the consequences were severe enough to send a 10-year-old to Stony Brook University Hospital.