An Orange County mother appeared in court on Tuesday as she faces involuntary manslaughter and several other charges for a deadly e-motorcycle crash in which her son struck an 81-year-old man and left him with critical injuries that eventually resulted in his death in April.
Tommi Jo Mejer, 51, of Aliso Viejo, allegedly allowed her 14-year-old son to illegally operate a powerful e-motorcycle when the crash happened on April 16, according to prosecutors with the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Along with the felony involuntary manslaughter charge, she is also charged with felony child endangerment and being an accessory after the fact to a crime. Mejer also faces misdemeanor counts of contributing to delinquency and providing false information to a peace officer, and an infraction for permitting an unlicensed minor to drive a motor vehicle.
Her arraignment was postponed on Tuesday and continued to June 30, the DA's Office said.
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Tommi Jo Mejer, the mother of a 14-year-old boy who allegedly fatally struck and killed an 81-year-old man while riding an e-motorcycle in April 2026, during a court hearing. CBS LA
In a statement shared after the hearing, Mejer's attorneys said that she is "anguished over the terrible accident."
"She sends her deepest condolences and sorrow over this tragedy," the statement said. "This has been devastating for everyone. It is premature to make any other statement."
Mejer's teenage son was riding a 2025 Surron Ultra Bee on April 16 at around 4 p.m. at the intersection of Toledo Way and Ridge Route Drive, near El Toro High School in Lake Forest, when he collided with 81-year-old Ed Ashman while he was allegedly performing wheelies in the middle of the street, prosecutors said when Mejer was first charged on May 1.
Ashman, a Vietnam War veteran and substitute teacher, was initially hospitalized in critical condition but died about two weeks later. At that time, prosecutors amended their criminal complaint against Mejer to include an involuntary manslaughter charge.
Mejer's son fled from the scene after the crash but was later arrested for charges related to the incident. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, prosecutors say that Mejer told Orange County Sheriff's Department deputies that neither she nor her son owned a Surron and that they didn't have access to one.
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Ed Ashman, the 81-year-old Vietnam veteran and substitute teacher who died after he was hit by a 14-year-old boy riding an e-motorcycle in Lake Forest on April 16, 2026. CBS LA
Prosecutors said that those statements contradicted an encounter she had with deputies in June 2025, when she was captured on body-camera footage complaining about images that were being posted online of her son, then 13-years-old, riding the e-motorcycle. During the conversation with deputies, Mejer "admitted that she purchased her son a Surron e-motorcycle and knew that he drove it recklessly," a news release from the DA's Office said. Deputies then warned her she could face charges if her son continued riding the e-motorcycle.
The Surron Ultra Bee e-motorcycle that her son was riding, which can reach speeds of nearly 60 miles per hour, requires a motorcycle license, insurance, license plates and registration to use on a public street, prosecutors said, making sure to note the difference between an e-bike and e-motorcycle being that the former has pedals and cannot exceed 20 miles per hour.
If convicted as charged, Mejer faces a maximum sentence of seven years and eight months in state prison.
Read more:Riverside County DA reminds parents that they could be liable for children's reckless use of e-bikes
She is now one of three Orange County parents to have been charged since January for allowing their children to illegally ride e-motorcycles. In March, a Yorba Linda father was charged with child endangerment for allegedly helping his son illegally modify an e-bike by bypassing its speed limiter and allowing it to reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour.
E-bikes and e-motorcycles have been in the public eye over the last several months, commonly as a topic of hot debate due to the reckless nature with which some of Southern California's youth is often seen riding them. Last month, an Orange County school district became the first to implement a ban on e-bikes for elementary and middle schoolers.
On Thursday last week, a 13-year-old boy was killed after crashing a motorized cycle into a median in Garden Grove. Police say he was riding at about 35 miles per hour when he lost control of the bike. Days later, Amazon halted sales of e-bikes to California that exceed the state's speed limit.