Mum charged with involuntary manslaughter after boy riding e-motorcycle hits veteran

A mum has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after man died after allegedly being hit by her son's e-motorcycle. Ed Ashman was walking home from El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California when the e-motorcycle hit him. The 81-year-old worked as a substitute teacher. The bike rider, Tommi Jo Mejer’s son, was reportedly "doing wheelies" outside the school when he hit Mr Ashman. The 14-year-old fled scene before the Orange County Sheriff’s deputies arrived. Mr Ashman was critically injured and died on Thursday, April 30, about two weeks after the incident. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement: “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." Prosecutors say she was warned against letting her son ride the e-motorcycle illegally before the crash. She is seen hours later on body worn camera telling Orange County police that neither she nor her teenage son own a Surron or have access to one, the Sun reports. "An American hero who survived flying combat missions in Vietnam could not survive walking across the street in Lake Forest because of a 14-year-old child who was allowed to ride an e-motorcycle that he should have never been riding," Spitzer said. "This is a tragedy for the family of Ed Ashman and for everyone who loved a man who committed himself to his country and his community, and it is a tragedy for our society that we have gotten to a point where parents are refusing to hold their children – and themselves – accountable for endangering the lives of other people." "If parents aren’t going to hold their children accountable, then I am going to hold parents accountable for hurting and killing innocent people while riding illegal motor vehicles." Mejer was initially charged with child endangerment, accessory after the fact to a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, loaning a motor vehicle to an unlicensed driver and providing false information to an officer. Her charges were later upgraded to involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, accessory after the fact to a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, providing false information to an officer and an infraction for permitting an unlicensed minor under the age of 18 to drive a motor vehicle. She could now face a maximum sentence of seven years and eight months in state prison if she is convicted on all counts. A GoFundMe was set up for Mr Ashford's medical and funeral costs. The veteran has been remembered for “his years in the cockpit flying jets for the military and serving our country with honour.” He was also described as a “devoted” husband, a father of three and a “proud” grandfather.