A Benicia couple was charged with child abuse after their teen suffered severe injuries in an e-moto crash in Walnut Creek last fall. The Contra Costa County district attorney alleges they allowed him to drive in an unsafe manner for three years, while ignoring repeated prior citations.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Steven Leroy Crews and Jeanna Marie Gabellini, both 58, of Benicia, have been charged with child abuse and are scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning, as NBC Bay Area reports.
The district attorney claims the couple “willfully and unlawfully” endangered their teen by allowing him to operate an e-moto bike in an unsafe manner at unsafe speeds over the span of three years, from ages 14 through 17. Authorities allege the teen’s parents ignored the multiple prior citations he had received while riding the bike.
Per NBC Bay Area, the teen crashed a Surron Light Bee e-Moto into a minivan in Walnut Creek last September, sustaining severe injuries. Investigators determined the teen had been riding unlawfully at dangerous speeds, based on evidence gathered at the scene, along with reports from multiple witnesses.
According to Surron's website, there are currently three Light Bee models on the market. The kids' version, discontinued last year but still available through retailers, is not road legal and can reach a top speed of 30 miles an hour. The road-legal and off-road versions of the adult model both reach a top speed of around 45 miles per hour.
There has been a lot of talk from Bay Area lawmakers in recent months seeking to tighten laws surrounding two-wheeled electric vehicles. The Chronicle reports that some high-performance e-bike and e-moto vehicles can reach 70 miles per hour, and sometimes even higher speeds using a “jail-break” method.
The Marin County government collected data on e-bike and e-moto vehicles, which found the death rate from crashes is 37 times higher than pedal bicycles, per the Chronicle. Officials also found that 10-to-15-year-olds are five times more likely to be involved in accidents than other age groups, based on data from 2023 to present.
In response, the Marin County government launched an e-bike awareness campaign keeping families informed about the dangers.
Additionally, Democratic Representative Jared Huffman of San Rafael authored a new state bill, the Safe Standards for Personal E-Bike and E-Moto Specifications Act, which would establish federal standards for classifying and labeling e-bike and e-moto vehicles, while also suggesting age restrictions.
“The Safe SPEEDS Act will bring much-needed clarity and consistency to the e-bike marketplace, a growing safety concern for families across the country,” said Marin County Supervisor Mary Sackett in a press release. “Federal consumer product safety standards for e-bikes and e-motos are currently nonexistent, resulting in confusion and the inadvertent purchasing of e-motos for young riders."
“Marin County is proud to be a national leader in youth e-bike safety and e-bike adoption for active transportation,” said Sackett, “and our experience shows how urgently this federal leadership is needed to bring guardrails to the marketplace for families.”
Image: Surron
