When they outlaw eBikes, only outlaws will ride? In response to more than 100 deaths attributed to eBikes and eMotos in the United States, Orange County, California, District Attorney Todd Spitzer has issued formal warning letters to more than 80 retailers reiterating their legal duties selling eBikes/eMotos and the potential criminal and civil penalties they could face if they fail to fulfill those duties. California currently prohibits the sale of products or devices that can modify the speed capability of an electric bicycle so that it no longer meets the definition of an electric bicycle. Dealers will be subject to periodic inspections by Orange County District Attorney investigators to ensure they are following the law.
Legal or otherwise, the crackdown on eBikes begins with a “Buy Back Safety” campaign to take offenders out of circulation. Modeled after law enforcement gun buyback programs, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office’s BUY BACK SAFETY E-Bike and E-Moto Buy Back Program will offer gift cards from Target, Walmart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods in exchange for E-Bikes, pocket bikes, E-Scooters and E-Motos. Store bought pocket bikes as well as homemade miniature bikes equipped with electric or gas-powered motors will also be accepted.
Funded through asset forfeiture funds, which are monies seized by law enforcement from criminal enterprises, the gift cards will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis. E-vehicles can be surrendered anonymously. Working and non-working vehicles will be accepted, and no questions will be asked, according to the DA’s office.
DA Spitzer is hosting the first eBike Buy Back Program on Sunday, September 13, 2026, at Angel Stadium, offering up to $1,000 in gift cards and tickets to a Los Angeles Angels baseball game in exchange for eBikes, pocket bikes, eScooters, and eMotorcycles, in an effort to reduce injuries and deaths. He claims eBikes have become the #1 reason Orange County children are admitted to the emergency room, with injuries increasing 430% in just the last four years across Southern California.
Since January, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has filed child endangerment charges against four parents for allowing their children to illegally ride E-Motorcycles, including filing involuntary manslaughter charges against a mother after her 14-year-old son hit and killed an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran in Lake Forest after she had been repeatedly warned that the E-Motorcycle he was riding was illegal and that she could be held criminally liable. She faces a maximum sentence of seven years and eight months in state prison if convicted.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has also filed felony charges against a Yorba Linda father whose 12-year-old son was critically injured after he ran a red light and was hit by a car while riding an E-Motorcycle which had been modified to go up to 60 miles per hour, after the boy and his father had been warned about the dangers of children riding E-Motorcycles illegally. He faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted on all counts.
“I will never get over the fact than an 81-year-old American hero survived flying combat missions in Vietnam, but he couldn’t survive his daily walk home from work because he was hit and killed by a child on an E-Motorcycle who knew he shouldn’t be riding it and did it anyway,” claims Spitzer. “Or that the parents of a 13-year-old boy had to bury their child because he crashed an E-Motorcycle while riding home. These vehicles are not child’s play, and the consequences are incredibly dangerous and increasingly deadly.
“We are doing everything we can to protect people and save lives. I want these illegal and illegally modified vehicles off our streets and out of the hands of riders who have no business riding them. If you own one, if you let your child ride one and we catch you, we will prosecute you,” he concludes.
That is not a threat. That is a promise!”
