An Orange County mother — who’s facing a manslaughter charge — broke her silence after her teen sonallegedly struck and killed an 81-year-old veteranwhile illegally riding an electric motorcycle.
Following her arraignment in court on Tuesday, Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, — through her attorney’s Lolita Kirk and Paul S. Meyer — said that she’s devastated over what has happened in Lake Forest in April.
“Tommi Mejer is anguished over the terrible accident,” the statement to The Post from the defense attorney’s read. “She sends her deepest condolences and sorrow over this tragedy.”
“This has been devastating for everyone. It is premature to make any other statement.”
Mejer did not enter a plea to the charges she’s facing for allowing her teen son toillegally ride the electric motorcyclethat ended up fatally killing Ed Ashman.
Authoritiessay the crash was preventableand that Mejer had been explicitly warned about her son’s dangerous driving behavior before the veteran was hit and ultimately died two weeks after the accident.
“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 E-Motorcycle until he finally killed someone,” Orange County District AttorneyTodd Spitzer said.
Mejer is facing several charges including one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of child endangerment. She’s also been charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, loaning a motor vehicle to an unlicensed driver, and providing false information to a peace officer.
On April 16, Ashman was walking across the street headed home from his job as a substitute teacher at El Toro High School when he was struck by the teen, per the DA.
Investigators say Mejer’s 14-year-old son was riding a Surron Ultra Bee electric motorcycle in the street and “doing wheelies” when he slammed into Ashman, leaving him with catastrophic injuries. The teen allegedly fled the scene.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
