E-bikes and electric motorcycles have exploded in popularity over the past few years, and for a lot of families they’ve become the modern version of the neighborhood dirt bike. But in Southern California, that popularity is now colliding with a growing list of serious crashes, and prosecutors in Orange County say they’ve reached a breaking point.
At a Seal Beach Rotary Club meeting this week, community members and law enforcement gathered to talk about a string of recent tragedies involving young riders on e-motorcycles. The discussion centered on accountability, specifically who is responsible when a minor is riding an illegal, unregistered electric motorcycle on public streets and someone gets hurt.
One of the people at that meeting was Stephanie Potter, a 72-year-old Seal Beach resident who was struck by a teenager riding a motorcycle back in March. She suffered a broken jaw and broken nose on impact, spent two weeks in the ICU, and another four weeks in rehabilitation. She’s since spoken publicly about the crash in hopes that it prevents another family from going through the same thing, according to NBC LA…