California Mother Charged After Teen’s E-Motorcycle Strike Leaves Pedestrian Critical

A California mother now faces felony child endangerment and accessory charges after prosecutors say she allowed her 14-year-old son to ride a powerful electric motorcycle that slammed into an 81-year-old pedestrian and left him in critical condition. Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo, was arrested April 22 in a case that has become a test of how far prosecutors will go to hold parents responsible when minors use motorized vehicles built for the street.

Authorities say the crash happened April 16 near Toledo Way and Ridge Route Drive in Lake Forest, close to El Toro High School, when the teen was doing wheelies on a 2025 Surron Ultra Bee e-motorcycle and struck Ed Ashman, a Vietnam veteran, substitute teacher and retired U.S. Marine Corps captain. Ashman, 81, was crossing the street when he was hit. The boy fled the scene. Ashman remained hospitalized in critical condition after surgery April 19.

Prosecutors said the vehicle was inspected and classified as a motor-driven cycle or motorcycle under California Vehicle Code sections 405 or 400, not a bicycle. Officials said the Surron Ultra Bee can reach up to 58 mph, a speed that puts it well beyond what California treats as a standard e-bike. Under state rules, riders of mopeds must be at least 16 and hold a motorcycle license, and higher-powered vehicles require proper licensing and registration. Without those requirements, the vehicles are limited to private property or off-highway use.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Mejer had been warned months earlier, in June 2025, by Orange County sheriff’s deputies that her son could not legally ride the bike and that she could face criminal charges if she kept allowing it. Prosecutors say she admitted she bought the Surron and knew her son rode it recklessly, then later denied owning or having access to one. Along with the felony counts, she was charged with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, loaning a motor vehicle to an unlicensed driver and providing false information to a peace officer. If convicted on all counts, she faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in state prison.

The case is part of a wider enforcement push in Orange County, where the district attorney’s office said it has filed child endangerment charges against three parents since January 2026 over children illegally riding e-motorcycles. One of those cases involved a Yorba Linda father after his 12-year-old son was critically injured in a crash involving a modified e-motorcycle capable of reaching 60 mph. Prosecutors are signaling that the legal risk no longer stops with the teen on the handlebars.