OC DA Charges Aliso Viejo Mom with Manslaughter in Son's Deadly E-Motorcycle Crash

Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo saw her charges escalated Friday to include one felony count of involuntary manslaughter after Ed Ashman, an 81-year-old Vietnam War veteran and substitute teacher, died Thursday from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run on April 16. The incident unfolded around 4 p.m. near El Toro High School in Lake Forest, where Mejer's son, doing wheelies on a Surron e-motorcycle 16 times more powerful than a standard e-bike, struck Ashman as he walked home from work and fled the scene.[1][2][3] Deputies tracked the teen to a nearby Lake Forest residence using witness accounts.[2] Mejer, arrested April 21, was initially hit with felony child endangerment and accessory-after-the-fact charges. Prosecutors amended the complaint to add manslaughter, plus misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to peace officers, and an infraction for permitting an unlicensed minor under 18 to drive. If convicted on all counts, she faces up to seven years and eight months in state prison. Arraignment is set for May 21 at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, Department H1.[1][2][3] Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer decried the tragedy, stating, "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." He noted Mejer ignored multiple warnings about the dangers. Since January 2026, the DA's office has filed child endangerment charges against three parents for letting kids illegally ride e-motorcycles, including a Yorba Linda father whose 12-year-old son was critically hurt after running a red light on a modified bike reaching 60 mph.[1][2]