California
Woman charged with manslaughter in death of man killed by her son on e-motorcycle
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California woman has been charged with manslaughter after an 81-year-old man who was struck by her teen son on an e-motorcycle died from his injuries, prosecutors said Friday.
On April 16, Tommi Jo Mejer’s 14-year-old son was riding a Surron e-motorcycle and doing wheelies when he hit Ed Ashman, according to prosecutors. Ashman, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, was walking home from his job as a substitute teacher at a high school in Lake Forest.
He was critically injured and died Thursday, and Mejer, of Aliso Viejo in Orange County, was charged with involuntary manslaughter as a result on top of a previous count of felony child endangerment.
“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,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
Mejer has not yet appeared in court, and there was no public defender listed in records for her. The District Attorney’s Office gave The Associated Press the name of a private attorney who may be representing Mejer; that person did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Mejer was also charged with felony accessory after the fact and misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to an officer.
In June 2025, prosecutors said, Mejer called the Sheriff’s Department to complain that someone was posting pictures of her son riding the e-motorcycle. In an interaction with deputies that was recorded by body camera, she said she bought the vehicle and “knew that he drove it recklessly.”
She was warned by deputies that she could face criminal charges for letting him ride it illegally, prosecutors said.
A bike is classified as an e-motorcycle under state law if it has an electric motor with more than 750 watts of power or can reach speeds above 20 mph (32 kph) without having to pedal. Riders are required to be at least 16 years old and have a motorcycle license.
The Surron e-motorcycle in question is capable of 56 mph (90 kph) speeds, according to manufacturers.
In the hours after the April collision, Mejer told deputies that neither she nor her son owned a Surron e-motorcycle or had access to one, prosecutors said.
The district attorney’s office said it could not discuss whether the boy will face prosecution because it is a juvenile case.
Orange County prosecutors have filed child endangerment charges against three parents this year for letting children ride e-motorcycles illegally. And in Contra Costa County, in Northern California, parents were charged after their child crashed into a minivan.
In the past, prosecutions of parents were typically seen in truancy cases since the law specifically mentions their liability, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor at Chapman University.
But parental criminal liability in other circumstances has gained attention in recent years, especially in prosecutions and convictions related to shootings committed by minors.
“This is a very new theory. There’s not a long, robust history,” Rosenthal said.
In the cases involving shootings, prosecutors have to prove that the parent committed some act of “criminal negligence” that led to a death, such as providing access to a gun, according to Rosenthal.
However the legal theories that were used might be more difficult to prove in e-motorcycle cases, Rosenthal said. Prosecutors will have to show that parents knew the risk of an e-motorcycle when letting their child ride one, and firearms represent a “far easier-to-grasp threat to human life.”
“Is it reasonably foreseeable that a child’s going to kill somebody?” Rosenthal said.
Massachusetts
Assault trial of former Patriots receiver begins with contrasting accounts
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The assault trial of Stefon Diggs began Monday with a prosecutor describing how his private chef was slapped and put in a headlock while lawyers for the former New England Patriots wide receiver insisted he was innocent and that the violent attack never happened.
The four-time Pro Bowl wideout has pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from the December incident. A jury was selected earlier Monday and received its instructions.
The 33-year-old Diggs declined to speak to reporters as he arrived at Norfolk County District Court in Dedham, a Boston suburb.
Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue said the chef, Mila Adams, would testify how Diggs had entered her bedroom, slapped her and put her in a headlock that made breathing difficult before throwing her on the bed.
“It’s your job to determine what happened on Dec. 2,” Virtue told the jury in his opening statement.
Diggs’ attorney, Andrew Kettlewell, insisted that his client did nothing wrong and that he never attacked his chef. Kettlewell said that no one in the house at the time of the alleged attack saw or heard anything out of the ordinary and there was no evidence of the attack. There are no medical records nor photos or video documenting the attack.
“The assault that the Commonwealth described in their opening statement never happened. It did not happen,” Kettlewell said.
Instead, Kettlewell described a brewing dispute between Adams and members of Diggs’ entourage that came to a head on Dec. 2 when Adams learned she would not be part of a week-long trip the wideout was taking to Miami. He also alleged that Adams demands for money increased in the weeks after she filed a police report and urged the jury not to be influenced by the fact that Diggs was a rich football player.
“Just like any other person in this country rich or poor, Mr. Diggs sits here an innocent man and any preconceptions or feelings you have about athletes, wealth or anything else has to be put aside and not let interfere with the oath you just took as jurors” Kettlewell said.
Adams took the stand briefly before the trial broke for lunch.
According to court records, the chef told officers that she and Diggs had argued about money he owed her for work. During the Dec. 2 encounter at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts, she said, he “smacked her across the face” and then “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” leaving her feeling short of breath. She told officers she had trouble breathing and felt she could have blacked out.
Diggs signed a three-year, $69 million contract with New England last year and was a key target for quarterback Drake Maye during the Patriots’ AFC East title run. Before joining the Patriots, Diggs was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015 and played for the Buffalo Bills before a brief stint with the Houston Texans in 2024.
Woman charged with manslaughter in death of man killed by her son on e-motorcycle
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California woman has been charged with manslaughter after an 81-year-old man who was struck by her teen son on an e-motorcycle died from his injuries, prosecutors said Friday.
On April 16, Tommi Jo Mejer’s 14-year-old son was riding a Surron e-motorcycle and doing wheelies when he hit Ed Ashman, according to prosecutors. Ashman, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, was walking home from his job as a substitute teacher at a high school in Lake Forest.
He was critically injured and died Thursday, and Mejer, of Aliso Viejo in Orange County, was charged with involuntary manslaughter as a result on top of a previous count of felony child endangerment.
“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,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
Mejer has not yet appeared in court, and there was no public defender listed in records for her. The District Attorney’s Office gave The Associated Press the name of a private attorney who may be representing Mejer; that person did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Mejer was also charged with felony accessory after the fact and misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to an officer.
In June 2025, prosecutors said, Mejer called the Sheriff’s Department to complain that someone was posting pictures of her son riding the e-motorcycle. In an interaction with deputies that was recorded by body camera, she said she bought the vehicle and “knew that he drove it recklessly.”
She was warned by deputies that she could face criminal charges for letting him ride it illegally, prosecutors said.
A bike is classified as an e-motorcycle under state law if it has an electric motor with more than 750 watts of power or can reach speeds above 20 mph (32 kph) without having to pedal. Riders are required to be at least 16 years old and have a motorcycle license.
The Surron e-motorcycle in question is capable of 56 mph (90 kph) speeds, according to manufacturers.
In the hours after the April collision, Mejer told deputies that neither she nor her son owned a Surron e-motorcycle or had access to one, prosecutors said.
The district attorney’s office said it could not discuss whether the boy will face prosecution because it is a juvenile case.
Orange County prosecutors have filed child endangerment charges against three parents this year for letting children ride e-motorcycles illegally. And in Contra Costa County, in Northern California, parents were charged after their child crashed into a minivan.
In the past, prosecutions of parents were typically seen in truancy cases since the law specifically mentions their liability, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor at Chapman University.
But parental criminal liability in other circumstances has gained attention in recent years, especially in prosecutions and convictions related to shootings committed by minors.
“This is a very new theory. There’s not a long, robust history,” Rosenthal said.
In the cases involving shootings, prosecutors have to prove that the parent committed some act of “criminal negligence” that led to a death, such as providing access to a gun, according to Rosenthal.
However the legal theories that were used might be more difficult to prove in e-motorcycle cases, Rosenthal said. Prosecutors will have to show that parents knew the risk of an e-motorcycle when letting their child ride one, and firearms represent a “far easier-to-grasp threat to human life.”
“Is it reasonably foreseeable that a child’s going to kill somebody?” Rosenthal said.
Massachusetts
Assault trial of former Patriots receiver begins with contrasting accounts
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The assault trial of Stefon Diggs began Monday with a prosecutor describing how his private chef was slapped and put in a headlock while lawyers for the former New England Patriots wide receiver insisted he was innocent and that the violent attack never happened.
The four-time Pro Bowl wideout has pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from the December incident. A jury was selected earlier Monday and received its instructions.
The 33-year-old Diggs declined to speak to reporters as he arrived at Norfolk County District Court in Dedham, a Boston suburb.
Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue said the chef, Mila Adams, would testify how Diggs had entered her bedroom, slapped her and put her in a headlock that made breathing difficult before throwing her on the bed.
“It’s your job to determine what happened on Dec. 2,” Virtue told the jury in his opening statement.
Diggs’ attorney, Andrew Kettlewell, insisted that his client did nothing wrong and that he never attacked his chef. Kettlewell said that no one in the house at the time of the alleged attack saw or heard anything out of the ordinary and there was no evidence of the attack. There are no medical records nor photos or video documenting the attack.
“The assault that the Commonwealth described in their opening statement never happened. It did not happen,” Kettlewell said.
Instead, Kettlewell described a brewing dispute between Adams and members of Diggs’ entourage that came to a head on Dec. 2 when Adams learned she would not be part of a week-long trip the wideout was taking to Miami. He also alleged that Adams demands for money increased in the weeks after she filed a police report and urged the jury not to be influenced by the fact that Diggs was a rich football player.
“Just like any other person in this country rich or poor, Mr. Diggs sits here an innocent man and any preconceptions or feelings you have about athletes, wealth or anything else has to be put aside and not let interfere with the oath you just took as jurors” Kettlewell said.
Adams took the stand briefly before the trial broke for lunch.
According to court records, the chef told officers that she and Diggs had argued about money he owed her for work. During the Dec. 2 encounter at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts, she said, he “smacked her across the face” and then “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” leaving her feeling short of breath. She told officers she had trouble breathing and felt she could have blacked out.
Diggs signed a three-year, $69 million contract with New England last year and was a key target for quarterback Drake Maye during the Patriots’ AFC East title run. Before joining the Patriots, Diggs was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 2015 and played for the Buffalo Bills before a brief stint with the Houston Texans in 2024.
