Aliso Viejo Case Forced Amazon E-Bike Drop

Amazon said this week it would stop allowing California sales of certain high-speed e-bikes that exceed the state’s legal speed limits, after a state consumer alert and a series of Southern California cases involving minors on electric motorcycles. (aol.com) The move applies to California, not nationwide, based on the company statement reported by multiple outlets. California Attorney General Rob Bonta had warned on April 14 that many vehicles marketed as e-bikes may actually be mopeds or motorcycles under state law. Orange County prosecutors, meanwhile, have tied their enforcement push to cases involving parents who let children ride illegal e-motorcycles. (ocdistrictattorney.gov) ### Did Amazon pull these bikes across the country? California is the verified scope of Amazon’s change. Reports published May 10 and May 11 said Amazon would no longer allow the sale in California of certain high-speed e-bikes that can exceed the state’s limits, after inquiries tied to the attorney general’s alert. (ocdistrictattorney.gov) No primary source reviewed for this story showed a nationwide ban. April 14 is the date Bonta and three district attorneys issued the consumer alert that helped set the legal framework. The alert said two-wheeled vehicles that go above 28 miles per hour with pedal assistance or 20 miles per hour with throttle assistance are not e-bikes under California law and instead fall under moped or motorcycle rules with added licensing and age requirements. ### What was the Aliso Viejo case that drew so much attention? (aol.com) May 1 is when the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said it upgraded charges against an Aliso Viejo mother after the death of Ed Ashman, an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran and substitute teacher. Prosecutors said Ashman died two weeks after he was hit in Lake Forest by a 14-year-old boy doing wheelies on an e-motorcycle. (aol.com) Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, was identified by prosecutors in an earlier filing as the mother charged in the case. The district attorney’s office said she had been repeatedly warned about allowing her son to ride the vehicle and that the machine was an e-motorcycle, not a legal e-bike. (oag.ca.gov) ### Why did prosecutors say the vehicle was illegal for a child to ride? California’s April 14 alert drew a bright line around speed and classification. Vehicles sold as e-bikes but capable of speeds above the legal limits may be treated as mopeds or motorcycles, which require licensing, registration, insurance and compliance with age rules, according to the attorney general’s office. (ocdistrictattorney.gov) Orange County prosecutors described the Lake Forest vehicle in sharper terms. The district attorney’s office said the boy was riding an e-motorcycle “16 times more powerful than an e-bike,” and said children under 16 are legally prohibited from riding e-motorcycles. Those assertions came from prosecutors, not from a court finding. (ocdistrictattorney.gov) ### Was this one case, or part of a broader crackdown? May 13 is when District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced a new Orange County prosecution unit called RIDE SAFELY to review potential criminal charges involving illegal use of e-bikes and e-motorcycles. Spitzer said his office had filed child-endangerment charges against three parents since January, including the Aliso Viejo mother whose case was upgraded to involuntary manslaughter. (oag.ca.gov) The same announcement said injuries tied to e-bikes and e-motorcycles in Southern California had risen 430% in the last four years, with most injuries affecting children not legally allowed to ride, according to the district attorney’s office. That figure was cited by prosecutors as part of their justification for the new unit. (ocdistrictattorney.gov) ### What should California buyers and parents watch now? Rob Bonta said in the April 14 alert that “if it’s too fast, it’s not an e-bike.” His office urged consumers, retailers and parents to check whether a product legally qualifies as an electric bicycle before buying or allowing a teen to ride it. (ocdistrictattorney.gov) May 13 is the next concrete milestone in the enforcement push because Orange County’s RIDE SAFELY unit is now in place to review new cases involving juveniles, adults and parents, according to Spitzer’s office. Amazon’s verified sales restriction, as publicly reported so far, is limited to California listings that exceed state speed limits. (oag.ca.gov) (ocdistrictattorney.gov)