A memorial honoring 4-year-old Ayden Fang, who was struck and killed by a compact SUV on the sidewalk Aug. 8, , 2025, on Donnelly Avenue in Burlingame.
There won’t be vehicular manslaughter charges filed against the 19-year-old driving the compact SUV that struck and killed 4-year-old Ayden Fang in downtown Burlingame Aug. 8, 2025, San Mateo County Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Baum said.
Ayden’s father, Ming Fang, said the family did not agree with the decision, which Baum said was made because the DA’s Office did not believe it could convince all 12 members of a jury that criminal negligence occurred.
“We, the family, do not agree with this decision,” Fang said. “If that’s the way [the justice system] is set up, that the DA can make that call without the jury making that call, I think that’s a premature decision [and] unfair for the victim.”
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. 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.
The totality of the facts of the situation led the DA’s Office to the decision not to press charges, Baum said.
“We didn’t think we would be able to convince 12 members of a jury there was criminal negligence here,” she said. “That’s not to say there wasn’t some other kind of negligence … because obviously it’s a horrible thing that happened.”
Any consideration of removing the driver’s license would be handled separately from the DA’s Office, by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Baum said.
“Given what happened, the driver should not continue to be driving,” Fang said. “She is proven to create a fatal mistake.”
Particularly given that Burlingame has seen two other fatal crashes in recent years, Fang said he hoped all responsible parties would take action to prevent such tragic incidents from occurring in the future.
“We, the family and community, would want all parties responsible and involved in this incident — driver, drivers’ family, bikers’ parents, city — to do what they can to prevent such things from happening again and make the streets safe,” he said. “They all need to own up to the responsibility.”
(650) 344-5200 ext. 105
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(6) comments
Where is the justice for Ayden and his family???
At least we have one San Mateo Democrat publicly admitting their incompetence.
A DA who comes out publicly and telling everyone "I can not get this done" is basically confessing, he is grossly overvalued and overpaid (and probably heavily "sponsored" by the automobile industry as they have several hundreds of lobbyists roaming Sacramento and DC).
As Calmatter has shown, our DA will also "accidently" forget to take away the driver's license or tell the DMV that the driver's license should be taken away from an unskilled, reckless driver.
This is a typical pattern in CA as Calmatters has uncovered: https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/04/license-to-kill/
quote: "The California DMV routinely allows dangerous drivers with horrifying histories to continue to operate on our roadways. Too often they go on to kill. Many keep driving even after they kill. Some go on to kill again."
Your comments about the D.A. are sad. He made no such "admission". Rather, he said via his office (which happens all day long) that his office did not believe in good faith that they could bring a convincing case that a crime occurred. He swore an oath to do exactly that and it would unethical for him or anyone in his office to bring a case they did not believe they could win. You are equally as wrong about the driver's license aspect. Do you think he runs the DMV? Do you actually believe that this accident has not been made known to the DMV? Perhaps this driver is just lousy or made a terrible mistake. We give licenses to idiots every day (just look around you) and I am not saying this driver is an idiot but maybe just so inexperienced she should not have a license. Be more careful when you spout this nonsense.
I think the problem is that the DA assumed to be the jury and the judge in this case. Based on what I have seen and heard, he could have come up with a charge and as a former jury foreman and member, if he had really tried, we would have nailed the driver. This is just another sweep under the rug and I feel for the parents and all of us who need to contend with such travesty. Remember that this is the same DA who let this speeding punk, who killed a young couple off with a slap on the wrist, while allowing the other partner rot in jail. The latter committed suicide, something the DA needs to live with. The big story this week in the DJ is that he, the big hero, with pictures, charged a guy with stealing $25,000 worth of CalTrain copper. Priorities, anyone??
Any cheap and mediocre bicycle lawyer will easily convince a judge and jury that the parents of those 4 children deserve millions in compensation from Burlingame and this reckless driver. And yet, the elected DA of one of the richest counties in America can't assemble a team of lawyers and law enforcement officers that find enough evidence to prove that this driver was distracted, drunk, high, on medication, drinking, eating, texting, or anything similar that caused the acceleration and the crash? Every time the DA says "I don't think I can" - that is the admission of incompetence. period.
Calmatters proved that there are serious communication issues in California between local DAs, local county courts, the DMV, and Sacramento. That is a proven fact.
https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/04/license-to-kill/
They don't have or share central records - that is a problem.
Until California DAs - like Wagstaffe - can show us that they actually follow up on these cases, we have to go with the researchers (Calmatters) over the politicans (Wagstaffe).
In his long career in San Mateo County, how many times did Wagstaffe go after people in cars killing people on foot or bike? That will be a microscopic number meaning the politician has been violating his oath of office for many, many years.
eGerd – TBot here. Actually, we have more than one San Mateo Democrat admitting their incompetence. We have plenty of elected official Democrats across the country admitting their incompetence when they put the welfare of criminals and terrorists over the American people. Any elected Democrat who does so publicly is telling everyone "I can not get this done" is basically confessing that they are grossly overvalued and overpaid.
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