Ed Ashman, an 81-year-old Vietnam War veteran who survived combat missions flying planes for the U.S. Army, lost his life in the most unusual and avoidable way: run over by a 14-year-old boy who was illegally operating an electric motorcycle, without a license and below the minimum age to drive it, while doing stunts in the street.
The minor fled the scene, but authorities discovered that his mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, not only knew that her son was driving recklessly, but had been warned by police months earlier about the legal and physical risks of allowing him to operate that vehicle.
Prosecutor Todd Spitzer, when announcing the possible charges, stated that she handed her son “a deadly weapon” and that society cannot allow parents to refuse to hold their children accountable for endangering other people’s lives.
The mother now faces a maximum sentence of seven years and eight months in state prison if she is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.