{"id":421285,"date":"2026-08-02T01:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T01:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/421285\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T01:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T01:06:11","slug":"california-parents-may-face-criminal-charges-over-kids-e-bike-rides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/421285\/","title":{"rendered":"California parents may face criminal charges over kids’ e-bike rides"},"content":{"rendered":"

A spike in\u00a0dangerous e-bike behavior<\/a> from young riders in Southern California seems likely to land not just the children in hot water but also their parents.<\/p>\n

There are more than two dozen open investigations into the parents of alleged riders of e-bikes or e-motorcycles, the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office confirmed this week<\/a> to the Orange County Register.<\/p>\n

Specifically, those 26 investigations could result in criminal charges after the District Attorney\u2019s Office created a special unit to deal specifically with e-biking violations amid growing outcry from residents.<\/p>\n

Two juvenile males reportedly fled a Walmart in Orange County after being seen on video riding e-bikes down store aisles. KTLA<\/p>\n

Orange County has witnessed a string of serious crashes involving these bikes. KTLA<\/p>\n

E-bikes and e-motorcycles are \u201cthe number one reason Orange County children end up in the emergency room,\u201d said county DA Todd Spitzer. \u201cThis is a serious public health crisis, and we are doing everything we can to reduce injuries and save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past year, Orange County has witnessed a string of serious crashes involving these bikes that resulted in life-altering injuries and, in at least one case, a death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are already four open prosecutions against parents. One mother, for example, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse and endangerment after her son fatally injured an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran<\/a>. A father in another case was charged with child abuse and endangerment after his 12-year-old son crashed and was injured.<\/p>\n

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State law prohibits riders under 16 from operating e-motorcycles, though authorities say children ages 11 to 14 account for the majority of such crashes statewide.<\/p>\n

The California Post has documented multiple instances of rogue children or young adults on e-bikes causing chaos across Southern California.<\/p>\n

Viral dashcam footage recorded a chase of a teen illegally riding an e-bike. Orange Police Department<\/p>\n

In June, two kids tore through the aisles<\/a> of an Orange County Walmart on a pair of e-bikes, sparking concern after reportedly weaving through the store and nearly hitting customers.<\/p>\n

Cops later that month posted viral dashcam footage<\/a> of an officer calmly chasing a teen on the loose while teasing the child for disobeying the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour face is on camera. I know you go to school around here. I\u2019m going to find you. What\u2019s mom and dad going to say when they see your face. when I tell them this?\u201d the officer can be heard calling out.<\/p>\n

In May, 19-year-old Hunter Bellish was taken into custody<\/a> after leading more than half a dozen officers on a chase though city streets from Vista to Oceanside,\u00a0north of San Diego<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spike in\u00a0dangerous e-bike behavior from young riders in Southern California seems likely to land not just the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3269,7,9,8,723,40252,4182,611,3586],"class_list":["post-421285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bikes","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-crime","tag-district-attorneys","tag-metro","tag-orange-county","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421285","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=421285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}