Six more parents, as well as an older brother, of children alleged to have illegally used e-motorcycles are now facing criminal charges, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
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The newly announced cases mean that local prosecutors have filed a dozen criminal cases against parents in Orange County related to their children’s e-motorcycle or e-bike use since January.
Among the family members facing the new charges announced Wednesday include:
— A man whose 15-year-old brother rode his e-motorcycle during a pursuit with La Palma officers that ended after the boy lost control and crashed into bushes.
— A father whose 11-year-old son collided with a pickup truck while riding his e-motorcycle at more than 33 miles per hour.
— A mother whose 9-year-old son was struck by a pickup truck while he was speeding at more than 47 miles per hour in Yorba Linda.
— A couple whose 17-year-old son led Newport Beach police on a pursuit while traveling more than 40 miles per hour on an e-motorcycle. The boy was accused of driving around pedestrians on sidewalks and traveling the wrong way on public streets. Prosecutors say the couple had been warned repeatedly about their son’s alleged reckless driving, and the boy’s previous e-motorcycle had been impounded and sold.
— The father of a 13-year-old who allegedly led Garden Grove police on a pursuit on his e-motorcycle that ended when he crashed into a police vehicle.
“We don’t want to have to prosecute parents – we want to save kids’ lives,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “When parents refuse to parent and tell their kids ‘no’ when it comes to riding something that is dangerous and illegal, then I have no choice but to hold parents accountable and file criminal charges.”
A series of high-profile crashes tied to juveniles using e-bikes or e-motorcycles amid the increasing popularity of the vehicles has brought intense scrutiny across Southern California.
Law enforcement officials have described e-bikes and e-motorcycles as the number one reason local children end up in emergency rooms and a public health crisis.
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The public outcry led Orange County DA Todd Spitzer earlier this year to create the RIDE SAFELY — Smart Accountability for E-Bikes and E-Motos and Law Enforcement for Youth — unit, which operates within the District Attorney’s Office’s Family Protection Division.
“Kids are getting seriously injured and killed and I refuse to allow another child to be hurt or killed because I didn’t do everything I could to send a message that these vehicles are not child’s play,” Spitzer said. “If you’re going to hand the keys to a deadly weapon to your child, then be prepared to face the consequences of your actions.”
In consolidating the cases within one unit, Spitzer explained that he wanted his office to be consistent when it came to charging decisions and sentencing recommendations.
Prosecutors less than two months after the creation of that unit confirmed that they were overseeing more than two dozen open investigations into parents of children suspected of illegally riding e-bikes or e-motorcycles.
Prosecutors have previously announced charges against six other parents.
This week, Vu Thanh Nguyen and Hong Cuc Thi Nguyen were charged in connection of the death of their 13-year-old boy, Benson Nguyen, who lost control of his e-motorcycle on Magnolia Street in Garden Grove, hit a center media, was thrown from the bike and struck a concrete pole.
Prosecutors allege that the boy had been riding more than 40 miles per hour, running red lights and popping wheelies with the off-highway e-motorcycle. They also saw he had previously posted videos on TikTok and Instagram showing him performing tricks on the e e-motorcycle. The parents bought the boy the e-motorcycle even after he broke his leg on a less powerful electric vehicle, prosecutors added, and his father had been warned about his son’s riding habits. The parents have not entered a plea to the child endangerment charges.
Earlier this year, Tommi Jo Mejer, an Aliso Viejo mom, became the first parent to face high-profile e-motorcyle related charges after her son was accused of striking and killing an 81-year-old man in Lake Forest.
Several other parents — including a Yorba Linda father whose 12-year-old son crashed an allegedly illegally modified e-motorcycle capable of going up to 60 mph — are also facing criminal charges.
Some of the cases involve electric vehicles that are only supposed to be used without a license on private property, but that children are using on public streets.