What to know before buying a kid an e-bike. Deaths, injuries on rise in Fresno

The crashes keep coming. A 13-year-old killed at Bullard and Palm. A 12-year-old fighting for her life. A 14-year-old ejected from an electric scooter near Mayfair and Weldon. A 16-year-old hospitalized after running a red light downtown on an e-bike. All within roughly two weeks. All children.

If you’re a Fresno parent staring at an e-bike on your kid’s holiday wish list — or one already parked in your garage — the headlines are terrifying for a reason. Local emergency rooms are seeing more hurt children, and pediatricians say the injuries are getting worse. Here’s what’s actually happening, what California law requires and what safety experts want you to know before you hand over the keys.

The injury numbers at Valley Children’s are climbing fast

Doctors at Valley Children’s Hospital say e-bike and e-scooter-related injuries among kids have surged. The hospital treated 11 such injuries in 2023, 41 in 2025 — and 22 in just the first four months of 2026, on pace to far exceed last year’s total.

“In the United States, e-bike-related injuries rose 30 fold from 2017 to 2022; our numbers in the Valley have risen similarly,” said Dr. Carmela Sosa of Valley Children’s. “We want our children outside. We want them to be physically active. … The increasing use of e-bikes and e-scooters brings safety challenges that we cannot ignore.”

Sosa said younger, less experienced riders are getting hurt the most, and the injuries aren’t always minor scrapes. “While some of these injuries have been minor, many have resulted in traumatic brain injury or multi-system trauma,” she said.

That ‘e-bike’ you bought may actually be an illegal motorcycle

This is the warning safety officials say parents most often miss: many vehicles marketed online and at big-box retailers as e-bikes are not e-bikes at all. They are unregistered motorcycles capable of speeds the law never intended for children.

“What we’ve seen is many parents don’t always understand what they’re buying their kids — sometimes they’re buying full motorcycles that have been marketed like an e-bike,” Clovis police Sgt. Abby Padgett, a traffic supervisor, told The Bee. “So now, their kids are riding on vehicles that can go up to 60 mph and they’re smashing down the street or sidewalk. And that’s not street legal.”

A true e-bike, under California law, falls into one of three classes:

• Class 1: Motor assists only when the rider pedals; tops out at 20 mph.
• Class 2: Throttle-powered; also capped at 20 mph.
• Class 3: Pedal-assist up to 28 mph.

Anything faster than 28 mph, or that operates entirely on a throttle at high speeds without pedaling, is not legally an e-bike. It’s typically a moped or motorcycle — which requires registration, insurance and a license.

The age and helmet rules every Fresno parent should know

California’s rules are stricter than many parents realize:

• There is no minimum age to ride a Class 1 or Class 2 e-bike (the 20-mph types).
• Riders must be at least 16 to operate a Class 3 e-bike.
• Anyone under 18 must wear a helmet on any class of e-bike, including passengers.
• Electric scooters are capped at 15 mph, can be ridden only on bike paths and bikeways — not sidewalks — and the rider must hold at least a learner’s permit, meaning a minimum age of 16.

In the recent CHP-investigated crash near Mayfair Drive and Weldon Avenue, neither the 14-year-old rider nor her 12-year-old passenger was wearing a helmet, according to CHP spokesperson Mike Salas. The 14-year-old failed to stop at a stop sign and was struck by a westbound Dodge pickup. She was ejected and hospitalized with major injuries.

Why the crashes keep happening at intersections

Look at the recent Fresno cases and a pattern emerges: intersections, stop signs and red lights.

The 16-year-old downtown admitted to officers he didn’t stop for the red light at Fresno and M streets before colliding with a vehicle that had the green. The 14-year-old on the scooter blew through a stop sign. A separate 14-year-old on a mini bike entered an intersection at Shields and West avenues where signals were flashing red and was thrown from the bike.

“Data shows that younger, inexperienced riders are at increased risk of injury,” Sosa said.

Fresno police Lt. Zeb Price put it more plainly to parents after that crash: “We love our kids and we want to give our kids things. We want to make sure that when we give them to them, we teach them how to use them safely.”

Fresno State just banned them. That tells you something.

Fresno State is prohibiting motorized bikes, mopeds and scooters on campus starting this fall, citing safety. The university’s Student Health and Counseling Center logged 159 scooter- and skateboard-related injuries since fall 2023, with 85% to 90% involving motorized scooters. Enforcement begins Aug. 19. Vehicles found in violation will be confiscated and impounded.

If a university campus full of adults can’t manage the risk, parents have reason to be cautious about middle schoolers.

How to talk to your kid before they ride

Padgett and Sosa say enforcement isn’t the answer — education is. A few practical conversations worth having before your child rides:

• Know what you bought. Check the motor’s top speed and class label. If it can hit 60 mph or has no pedals, it’s not legal for a child to ride on the street.
• Helmets are not optional. Under 18, it’s the law on any e-bike — and the difference between a concussion and a traumatic brain injury.
• Rules of the road apply. Stop signs. Red lights. No popping wheelies. No riding double. No sidewalks for scooters.
• One rider, one vehicle. The fatal Bullard-and-Palm crash and the Mayfair crash both involved two kids on a single scooter.

Dominiq Puentes, the 13-year-old killed at Bullard and Palm, was a student at Phoenix Secondary Academy who previously attended Tenaya Middle School. Fresno Unified called him a child with “a joyful spirit and big smile.” His 12-year-old passenger remained in critical condition.

“Some people will say ‘Let the kids have their fun,’ ” Padgett said. “Well, some of what they’re doing isn’t street legal. And it’s not fun when someone dies.”

Original stories by B.J. Anteola and Anthony Galaviz.

This story was produced with the help of AI tools, which summarized previous stories reported and written solely by McClatchy journalists. This content was reviewed and edited by journalists in the newsroom in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.