Pedestrian and bike safety advocates gathered Friday to protest the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office decision not to file charges against the 19-year-old driving the compact SUV that struck and killed 4-year-old Ayden Fang in downtown Burlingame last year.
Prosecuting the driver would have sent a message to drivers that pedestrians and bikers are protected on San Mateo County streets, Move San Mateo safety advocate Mike Swire said. He, alongside other activists, were gathered on the Donnelly Avenue sidewalk near where the crash occurred, alongside a little library created in Ayden’s honor.
“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.”
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.
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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.”
This is interesting…Mr. Swire says he’s disappointed with the vilification of the e-bike riders yet Mr. Swire is now attempting to vilify the DA as well as elected officials. Yet, no word of whether Mr. Swire and others of like mind are disappointed with so-called Democrat leaders providing for the welfare of criminals and terrorists over the American people. Where are the protests against these so-called Democrat leaders? Perhaps Mr. Swire or any of those of like mind should run for DA so they can become judge, jury, and executioner since they seems to know best.
TBot my friend. Here we finally have an elected official - the DA - telling us he can't do the job he was elected to do. And still, you side with this Democrat?
This soft-on-crime San Mateo Democrat tells us he is too incompetent to defend a 4-year old child against a reckless, violent, distracted driver ... and you try to defend this incompetence?
Interesting way to throw away your credibility. You are sure your Russian overlords are with you on this one?
eGerd – TBot here. You are incorrect. It is not, “we finally have…” It is, “we already have” Democrats who can’t do the job they were elected to do. That’s right, those soft on crime Democrats who put the welfare of criminals and terrorists over the American people. Yet it appears many sheep in blue states side with those Democrats. Can you defend their incompetence, both the elected and the sheep? Sorry, but your accusation of me throwing away my credibility falls flat, especially when we all remember that you’re okay with biological men competing against biological women. Seems to me we can all continue questioning your credibility, as well as your veracity.
eGerd – TBot here. I don’t think you need to look as far as Washington DC as there are plenty here in California. Feel free to name names of those you allude to in Washington DC. Inquiring minds want to know.
TBot, I'm not really part of the inner circle of QAnon, but I hear these guys are waiting. And some more friends of mine are desperate to get the information:
- JD Vance: "Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. It's an important thing."
- Dan Bongino: "Folks, the Epstein client list is a huge deal. Why do they want that Jeffrey Epstein story go away so bad? If you are lying about that, you are lying about everything"
- Piers Morgan: "We have flight logs. We have information = names will come out.
- Pam Bondi: "Everything's is going to come out to the public. The public has the right to know. Americans have the right to know. Donald Trump doesn't do empty promises."
- Kash Patel: "Members of Congress should put on their big boy pants and let us know who these pedophiles are."
I think a larger police presence would be more effective than spending on infrastructure improvements. There is really no consequence and will be largely ignored. Ride sharing and delivery apps have .are for profit and make out streets more dangerous. Even if you remove cars from the road something will ultimately occupy that space it may or may not be more dangerous.
It is not cost effective to put a police officer in front of every restaurant in downtown Burlingame. In addition, how can an officer discourage someone from driving onto a sidewalk. Also, if there are no consequences for dangerous driving, how does a police officer deter bad behavior?
Infrastructure improvements are a one-time cost, work 24x7, and are recommended by all traffic safety organizations and agencies.
Thomas, what are you talking about? We already have the confession by the Burlingame council and staff of what went wrong here and who is at fault.
The moment this happened, Donna Colson and the media went out to blame the collision on two other victims riding a bicycle. Shame on all of them.
But behind the scene they quickly removed the on-street parking which was a main factor in this crash. Why would they do that if they thought, infrastructure wasn't the problem here?
If the parents of the 4 children decide to start a lawsuit against the city of Burlingame and the driver, they will be awarded several million in damages.
All because Donna Colson and rest of the city council kept refusing to provide safe infrastructure.
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(10) comments
This is interesting…Mr. Swire says he’s disappointed with the vilification of the e-bike riders yet Mr. Swire is now attempting to vilify the DA as well as elected officials. Yet, no word of whether Mr. Swire and others of like mind are disappointed with so-called Democrat leaders providing for the welfare of criminals and terrorists over the American people. Where are the protests against these so-called Democrat leaders? Perhaps Mr. Swire or any of those of like mind should run for DA so they can become judge, jury, and executioner since they seems to know best.
TBot my friend. Here we finally have an elected official - the DA - telling us he can't do the job he was elected to do. And still, you side with this Democrat?
This soft-on-crime San Mateo Democrat tells us he is too incompetent to defend a 4-year old child against a reckless, violent, distracted driver ... and you try to defend this incompetence?
Interesting way to throw away your credibility. You are sure your Russian overlords are with you on this one?
eGerd – TBot here. You are incorrect. It is not, “we finally have…” It is, “we already have” Democrats who can’t do the job they were elected to do. That’s right, those soft on crime Democrats who put the welfare of criminals and terrorists over the American people. Yet it appears many sheep in blue states side with those Democrats. Can you defend their incompetence, both the elected and the sheep? Sorry, but your accusation of me throwing away my credibility falls flat, especially when we all remember that you’re okay with biological men competing against biological women. Seems to me we can all continue questioning your credibility, as well as your veracity.
"put the welfare of criminals and terrorists over the American people"
I assume, you are referring to the pedophiles and "pedophile protectors" running Washington DC?
eGerd – TBot here. I don’t think you need to look as far as Washington DC as there are plenty here in California. Feel free to name names of those you allude to in Washington DC. Inquiring minds want to know.
TBot, I'm not really part of the inner circle of QAnon, but I hear these guys are waiting. And some more friends of mine are desperate to get the information:
- JD Vance: "Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. It's an important thing."
- Dan Bongino: "Folks, the Epstein client list is a huge deal. Why do they want that Jeffrey Epstein story go away so bad? If you are lying about that, you are lying about everything"
- Piers Morgan: "We have flight logs. We have information = names will come out.
- Pam Bondi: "Everything's is going to come out to the public. The public has the right to know. Americans have the right to know. Donald Trump doesn't do empty promises."
- Kash Patel: "Members of Congress should put on their big boy pants and let us know who these pedophiles are."
- TBot: 'We need to protect biological women.'
I think a larger police presence would be more effective than spending on infrastructure improvements. There is really no consequence and will be largely ignored. Ride sharing and delivery apps have .are for profit and make out streets more dangerous. Even if you remove cars from the road something will ultimately occupy that space it may or may not be more dangerous.
It is not cost effective to put a police officer in front of every restaurant in downtown Burlingame. In addition, how can an officer discourage someone from driving onto a sidewalk. Also, if there are no consequences for dangerous driving, how does a police officer deter bad behavior?
Infrastructure improvements are a one-time cost, work 24x7, and are recommended by all traffic safety organizations and agencies.
Thomas, what are you talking about? We already have the confession by the Burlingame council and staff of what went wrong here and who is at fault.
The moment this happened, Donna Colson and the media went out to blame the collision on two other victims riding a bicycle. Shame on all of them.
But behind the scene they quickly removed the on-street parking which was a main factor in this crash. Why would they do that if they thought, infrastructure wasn't the problem here?
If the parents of the 4 children decide to start a lawsuit against the city of Burlingame and the driver, they will be awarded several million in damages.
All because Donna Colson and rest of the city council kept refusing to provide safe infrastructure.
The private auto should be banned in the same way society made smoking anti-social behavior. Start by getting car ads off TV.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.