SANTA ANA, Calif. (BRAIN) — A mother has been charged with felony child endangerment after her 14-year-old son riding an e-moto critically injured an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran. It's the latest arrest of a parent in California for allowing access to an e-moto that resulted in a crash.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo, has been charged with one felony count of child endangerment, one felony count of accessory after the fact to a crime, one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, one misdemeanor count of loaning a motor vehicle to an unlicensed driver, and one misdemeanor count of providing false information to a peace officer.
She faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in state prison if convicted on all counts.
On April 16 at about 4 p.m., Orange County Sheriff's deputies responded to a pedestrian hit by an e-moto while doing wheelies in the middle of the street on a Surron and left the scene. The pedestrian, whose identity has not been released, is a substitute teacher and was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps who flew combat missions in Vietnam. He remains hospitalized in critical condition.
In California, riders of such high-speed bikes that are classified as a motor-driven cycle must be 16 years of age and have a license, registration, and insurance. It is approved for use either on private property or registered as an off-highway vehicle.
Hours after the collision, Mejer is seen on a body-worn camera repeatedly telling Orange County Sheriff's deputies that neither she nor her teenage son own a Surron or have access to one.
Last June, according to the district attorney's office, Mejer called the Orange County Sheriff's Department to complain that someone posted pictures of her son riding an e-moto. Mejer eventually admitted purchasing the Surron Ultra Bee to deputies and knew that he drove it recklessly. The deputies warned of potential criminal charges if she continued to allow him to ride it.
The Surron Ultra Bee is capable of a maximum speed of 58 and can accelerate from 0-31 miles per hour in 2.3 seconds. With a peak power of 12.5kW, the output is 16 times more powerful than what is legally allowed for an e-bike in California.
In an effort to curb e-moto and e-motorcycle accidents with underage riders, New Jersey passed a controversial law within the bicycle industry at the beginning of the year requiring license, registration, and insurance for those high-speed vehicles but also including low-speed e-bikes.
Since January, the Orange County District Attorney's Office has filed child endangerment charges against three parents for allowing their children to illegally ride e-motos, including a Yorba Linda father whose 12-year-old son was critically injured after he ran a red light and was hit by a car while riding an e-moto modified to go up to 60 mph. According to the district attorney's office, the boy and his father had been warned about e-moto laws. The man faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted on all counts.
In March, California prosecutors charged a mother and father with child abuse after their child crashed into a vehicle in Walnut Creek last September on their e-moto and was seriously injured. The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office said the juvenile operator was unlicensed and charged parents Steven Leroy Crews and Jeanna Marie Gabellini of Benicia on one count of child abuse, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors said the parents "willfully and unlawfully permitted a child to be injured or placed in a situation where the child's health is endangered."
Also last month, a bi-partisan group in Congress introduced the Safe SPEEDS Act to create federal standards for low-speed electric bikes and e-motos. PeopleForBikes says the bill is "a significant step forward in addressing the increased use of currently unregulated products like electric dirt bikes across the U.S."
