Southern California mother charged after teenage son hits, critically injures Vietnam veteran on e-motorcycle
A Southern California woman is facing several criminal charges, including two felonies, after her son hit and injured an 81-year-old man while performing wheelies on an e-motorcycle last week, according to prosecutors.
In a news release, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo, "refused to parent her child" by allowing the 14-year-old to ride a 2025 Surron Ultra Bee, which is classified under California state law as an e-motorcycle rather than an e-bike, requiring riders to be older than 16 and to have a motorcycle license when riding on public roads.
As a result, Mejer will face the following charges:
- 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
- One misdemeanor count of providing false information to a peace officer.
Prosecutors said Orange County Sheriff's deputies responded to the area of Toledo Way and Ridge Route Drive near El Toro High School in Lake Forest around 4 p.m. on April 16 after reports of a crash.
Upon arrival, deputies found an 81-year-old substitute teacher, identified as Ed Ashman, with critical injuries after he was struck by the teenage boy who was performing wheelies in the middle of the street, prosecutors said. As of Wednesday, he remains hospitalized in critical condition.
The boy fled the scene and was later arrested for charges related to the incident. He's yet to be identified publicly and details surrounding his potential criminal case are sparse, given California law regarding investigations involving minors.
In the aftermath of the crash, Mejer told deputies that neither she nor her son owned a Surron, nor do they have access to one.
Prosecutors said her statements, captured on body-cam footage, contradicted an encounter she'd had in June 2025. At that time, Mejer called OCSD to complain about images posted online of her son, then 13, riding an e-motorcycle.
The DA's office said that during the conversation, she "admitted that she purchased her son a Surron e-motorcycle and knew that he drove it recklessly." The deputies then warned that she could be charged if her son continued to ride the e-motorcycle.
"Parents who buy their child an E-motorcycle and let them ride them illegally or help modify e-Bikes to transform them into E-motorcycles are handing their children a loaded weapon – and those parents are going to be prosecuted. That is not a threat. That is a promise," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "This 81-year-old man survived flying combat missions in Vietnam protecting freedom and now he is clinging to life because a mother refused to parent her child and he was run over in the street by a vehicle that should have never been on the road. There is absolutely no reason that an unlicensed, untrained child with no concept of the rules of the road should be riding a motorcycle that can go up to nearly 60 miles per hour next to cars on a public street and think that by some miracle they are going to be safe."
Mejer faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in state prison if convicted on all counts.
"I'm making it very, very clear tonight that at least in Orange County, if you're a parent and you're facilitating the possession and use of an e-bike that's been modified or an e-motorcycle, you're gonna be prosecuted," Spitzer told CBS LA.