A Yorba Linda father who allegedly helped his 12-year-old son illegally modify his e-bike, which he was riding when he was critically injured in a crash, has been charged with felony child endangerment, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Richard John Eyssallenne, 39, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to one felony count of child endangerment and abuse and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to a news release from the DA’s Office. 

Prosecutors say that Eyssallenne’s son was critically injured after he ran a red light and was hit by a car while illegally riding the e-bike that had been unlawfully modified as a minor under the age of 16, which is the required age to ride an e-motorcycle in Orange County.

“The boy was given the E-motorcycle as a Christmas present and had already had his e-Motorcycle impounded once before the July 2025 collision that left him with a fractured skull, an intracranial [sic] bleed and several other broken bones,” the release said. 

On July 20, 2025 at around 2 p.m., when Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies were dispatched to the intersection of Via Lomas De Yorba West and La Palma Avenue for a crash involving an e-bike and a Honda Civic, prosecutors said. 

“A vehicle driving behind the Honda Civic captured the collision as the Civic attempted to avoid the bicyclist which had run the red light and drove into oncoming traffic,” the release said. 

Prosecutors say that Eyssallenne took his 12-year-old and 10-year-old sons to an E-Bike Safety Presentation that was hosted by Yorba Linda Police Services on Jan. 15, 2025, less than a month after the older boy received a citation for illegally riding an e-motorcycle, which requires the rider to be 16 and have a motorcycle license. 

Upon inspecting the e-bike, a 2024 Talaria XXX, police found that it did not actually qualify as an e-bike, but rather as a motor-driven cycle under CVS section 405 or a motorcycle under CVC section 400. 

They found that the manufacturer’s pedals with motorcycle pegs had been modified and were not “fully operable” and that the “motor power exceeded the maximum of 750 watts,” according to the release. Instead, its peak output was 5,000 watts. 

Additionally, they found that the manufacturer-installed governor, which limited the bike to a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour, had the limiter wire cut and rerouted to a key switch, allowing the rider to disable the speed limit mechanism. By bypassing the limiter, riders can attain speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, the release said. 

“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 60 miles per hour next to cars on a public street and think that by some miracle they are going to be safe,” said a statement from OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “This 12-year-old boy is lucky to be alive and the driver who hit him will have to live with that horror of seriously injuring a child through no fault of his own.”

If convicted of all counts, Eyssallenne faces up to six years in state prison, prosecutors said. 

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