Advocates protest no charges for crash that killed Burlingame boy

“It would send a clear message to residents that the DA has our back when we walk, when we bike and even when we drive on the increasingly dangerous streets of San Mateo County,” Swire said. “Prosecution would let drivers know that there are consequences for negligence.” 

Rebecca Baum, San Mateo County assistant district attorney, said previously that the decision — which Ming Fang, Ayden’s father, said the family disagreed with — was made because the DA’s Office did not believe it could convince all 12 members of a jury that criminal negligence occurred. 

The crash occurred when the driver pulled out of an adjacent city parking lot and collided with an e-bike traveling east on Donnelly Avenue on Aug. 8, 2025. The e-bike riders, an 11-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl, were operating a Class 2, two-person bike legally and in accordance with traffic laws, Burlingame police Lt. David Perna said previously.

After the collision with the e-bike, the compact SUV driver accelerated, crossing the street forward, over the curb and into two pedestrian children and the restaurant, Perna said previously. 

Swire said he was disappointed with the vilification of the e-bike riders and the description of the crash as a “chain reaction” by local law enforcement, given that the riders were following safety rules and that the collision with the car could not have physically caused the driver to accelerate onto the sidewalk, he said. 

“Kids safely riding and following the rules is not a problem on any bike,” he said. “If somebody crashes and speeds on the sidewalk, that is not an e-bike issue.” 

He also spoke to Burlingame and San Mateo County leadership’s responsibility in building more pedestrian and bike-safe infrastructure, particularly because of the three vehicle-related deaths that occurred in Burlingame throughout the span of a year. 

“Our elected officials are partially to blame for the rising tide of violence on our streets,” Swire said. “Infrastructure is by far the most proven method of reducing crashes — both the frequency as well as the severity.” 

The decision not to prosecute the driver speaks to a larger system issue in California’s court system favoring drivers at the expense of pedestrian and bike victims, Move San Mateo Co-Chair Max Mautner said. 

“Systemically, it takes looking at our justice system as far as how jurors are selected,” he said. “I mean, for one, you get free parking at the Redwood City courthouse. You don’t get a free bus pass. You don’t get a free Caltrain pass.”