An Orange County mother is now facing involuntary manslaughter charges after her 14-year-old son struck and killed an 81-year-old man while riding an illegally operated e-motorcycle in April.
Tommi Jo Mejer, of Aliso Viejo, was charged Friday following the death of Ed Ashman, a former U.S. Marine Corps captain who worked as a substitute teacher in Lake Forest. Ashman was walking home from work when the teen, performing wheelies on a Surron e-motorcycle, hit him on April 16. He died from his injuries on Thursday.
The case has expanded beyond the initial felony child endangerment charge. Mejer now faces involuntary manslaughter, felony accessory after the fact, misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and providing false information to law enforcement. If convicted on all counts, she could receive up to seven years and eight months in prison.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer characterized the mother's actions bluntly. "This mother essentially handed her 14-year-old son a deadly weapon, and despite multiple warnings of the dangers, continued to let him illegally ride an e-motorcycle until he finally killed someone," he said in a statement.
Prosecutors documented a pattern of deliberate rule-breaking. In June 2024, Mejer called the sheriff's department complaining about someone posting pictures of her son riding the e-motorcycle. Body camera footage captured her telling deputies she purchased the vehicle and "knew that he drove it recklessly." Deputies warned her she could face criminal charges for the illegal use. Within weeks of that warning, the fatal crash occurred.
When questioned immediately after the April collision, Mejer denied owning the e-motorcycle or having access to one, according to prosecutors. That false statement became part of the charges against her.
Under California law, e-motorcycles with motors exceeding 750 watts or capable of speeds above 20 mph require the rider to be at least 16 years old and hold a motorcycle license. The Surron Ultra Bee that the boy was riding can reach 56 mph. A 14-year-old operating such a machine was breaking the law, and Mejer allowed it despite explicit warnings.
This case reflects a broader trend in California. Orange County prosecutors have filed child endangerment charges against three parents this year for allowing children to ride e-motorcycles illegally. In Contra Costa County, parents faced charges after their child crashed an e-motorcycle into a minivan.
The criminal liability strategy is relatively new. Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor at Chapman University, noted that parental prosecutions have historically centered on truancy cases where liability is explicitly written into law. Recent years have seen expansion into cases involving minors who commit violent crimes, particularly shootings, but e-motorcycle cases present unique legal challenges.
"Prosecutors will have to show that parents knew the risk of an e-motorcycle when letting their child ride one," Rosenthal explained. Firearms, he added, represent a "far easier-to-grasp threat to human life" than a motorized vehicle. The question of whether it's "reasonably foreseeable that a child's going to kill somebody" while riding an e-motorcycle remains legally murky, making these prosecutions more difficult to prove than their gun-access counterparts.
Author James Rodriguez: "Mejer's case shows how quickly a mother's deliberate disregard for the law and explicit warnings transformed into a manslaughter case, but it also exposes real gaps in how we prosecute parental negligence when it doesn't involve firearms."
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