{"id":301866,"date":"2026-05-06T02:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/301866\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:25:08","slug":"parents-of-teen-killed-in-crash-while-riding-moped-scooter-speak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/301866\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents of teen killed in crash while riding moped scooter speak out"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The parents of the young boy killed in a crash<\/a> while riding his motorized vehicle Friday night are speaking publicly for the first time.<\/p>\n

13-year-old Dominiq Puentes died at the hospital after colliding with a truck at Bullard and Palm Avenues in Northwest Fresno.<\/p>\n

“His life was cut really short… he didn’t even get to fully really start living it,” said Puentes’ father, Brandon Escobedo. “He loved his mom – he was a mama’s boy. He loved his family. He loved to hang out with his cousins.”<\/p>\n

Puentes’ parents say he was riding a moped scooter with one of his cousins when the crash happened. The 12-year-old was left critically injured.<\/p>\n

Just two days later, Fresno police say another teen was seriously injured after crashing a pocket bike — also known as a miniature motorcycle — into a car in Central Fresno.<\/p>\n

The incidents come amid safety concerns surrounding young people riding motorized scooters and bikes.<\/p>\n

Exactly one week before Puentes’ death, Fresno State announced it is banning them on campus<\/a> come August.<\/p>\n

Puentes’ parents support the decision, and they say it should go further than that.<\/p>\n

“Why are they banned on school sidewalks, but not on these roads? These lanes are not big enough for a bike, an e-bike. This city isn’t big enough for e-bikes, or mopeds, or whatever,” said Brittany Escobedo, Puentes’ mother.<\/p>\n

The city says there are laws in place to help prevent these types of tragedies.<\/p>\n

“If it is a street-legal motorcycle, then they have to have a license to even be on that,” said Fresno Police Sergeant Michael McCray.<\/p>\n

And the recent crashes have raised questions<\/a> about parental responsibility.<\/p>\n

Fresno County’s District Attorney says for parents to be held criminally liable; they would have to have been notified their child was driving recklessly or breaking the law.<\/p>\n

“Once those parents receive those notices from whoever it is, a neighbor, a friend, somebody who might see them engaging in that behavior, they really need to put the lid on it,” said Fresno County’s District Attorney, Lisa Smittcamp.<\/p>\n

Puentes’ mother tells Action News she did not purchase the moped for her son.<\/p>\n

“And that’s why I said no; because the same bike he wanted took his life,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Police say both adults and children need to follow the rules, and I agree. Law enforcement should enforce those rules, pull our kids over if needed. Save a life. As parents, we’d rather see care and prevention than judgement,” Puentes’ father said.<\/p>\n

As Puentes’ family grieves, they have a message for other parents.<\/p>\n

“Take them away. There’s absolutely no safety in any of them,” said Brittany Escobedo.<\/p>\n

Puentes leaves behind his parents and five siblings.<\/p>\n

The family has organized a GoFundMe<\/a> to cover his funeral expenses.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The parents of the young boy killed in a crash while riding his motorized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[127536,112,114,113,127535,294],"class_list":["post-301866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-127536","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-parents-of-teen-killed-in-crash-while-riding-moped-scooter-speak-out","tag-timely"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}