THE PARENTS of a boy killed in an e-bike crash are being charges with crimes (Shutterstock).

Child endangerment charges will be pressed against the parents of a 13-year-old boy who died after he lost control of an electric motorcycle when he crashed into a utility pole in Garden Grove in May.

The Orange County District Attorney is charging the parents of Benson Nguyen of Santa Ana in connection with the incident. The father, Vu Thanh Nguyen, 56, of Santa Ana faces one felony charge of child endangerment and one misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The mother, Hong Cuc Thi Nguyen, 49, of Santa Ana, is charged with one misdemeanor count of child endangerment. The father could receive a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted of all charges. The mother faces a maximum sentence of one year in county jail if convicted.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, the boy’s father is accused of buying his son an E-Moto cycle despite “multiple warnings about his son’s reckless driving and the fact that his son was repeatedly injured while riding a different electric vehicle, including breaking his leg six months” before the fatal incident.

On May 7, 2026, the youth was seen speeding, running through red light traffic signals and doing “wheelies” on the E-Ride Pro SS 2.0 E-Moto just before he lost control of the vehicle on Magnolia Street near Larson Avenue.

He struck the raised center divider, was thrown from his vehicle and struck a concrete light pole. He was taken to UCI Medical Center where he died. The youth was traveling at 43 miles an hour when the crash happened, says the DA’s office, according to a reading on the boy’s Life360 app.