Two children riding an e-bike were hospitalized Saturday afternoon after colliding with a motor vehicle near Pearson Parkway and Sierra Parkway in Brooklyn Park. Police say both children were in stable condition following the crash, which was reported around 3:11 p.m.
According to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Brooklyn Park police did not elaborate on the severity of the children's injuries beyond confirming their stable condition. The driver of the vehicle stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation, and police say drugs or alcohol did not play a role in the collision.
The crash occurred just blocks from the 500 block of Pearson Parkway, where Brooklyn Park officers responded to a shooting call in June, underscoring how frequently the residential corridor draws emergency response. Pearson Parkway connects neighborhood streets to nearby parks and arterial routes, and county planning documents note that Brooklyn Park's curvilinear street layout and gaps in its east-west trail network often push cyclists onto sidewalks or major roadways alongside vehicle traffic, according to the Hennepin County Brooklyn Park Station Area Plan.
What Minnesota Law Says About Young E-Bike Riders
The collision raises questions that remain unanswered in this case, including whether the children involved met the state's age and safety requirements for e-bike operation. Under Minnesota Statute § 169.222, riders must be at least 15 years old to legally operate an electric-assisted bicycle on public roads, per the Minnesota Revisor's Office. The law also requires anyone under 18 to wear a helmet approved by the commissioner of public safety, a mandate that does not apply to adult riders, according to CBS News.
State law additionally bars passengers on e-bikes unless the vehicle was specifically manufactured to carry more than one rider, a restriction the City of Eagan notes is meant to prevent the balance and handling problems that come with illegal multi-rider operation. It is not yet known from available reporting whether the Brooklyn Park e-bike was carrying two children as rider and passenger or whether either child met the statutory age minimum, and police have not addressed those questions publicly.
A Pattern of Severe Injuries Statewide
Medical experts have repeatedly flagged the outsized risks e-bikes pose to young riders in collisions with vehicles. Emergency physicians and trauma specialists at Hennepin Healthcare warned in April that e-bike crash victims often suffer injuries comparable to motorcycle accidents, since the vehicles can reach speeds up to 28 miles per hour, per the Minnesota News Network. A joint study by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety found 514 hospital-treated e-bike injuries statewide between October 2023 and March 2025, with riders under 18 accounting for 19 percent of cases, according to BikeMN. Fourteen percent of youth injuries in that study involved collisions with motor vehicles, while the majority were non-collision spills.
National data points to a similar trend. A U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report released in April documented 533 micromobility-related fatalities nationwide between 2017 and 2024, with annual e-bike emergency department visits topping 24,000, and found that collisions with motor vehicles account for 30 percent of all e-bike injuries. Clinical research from the Children's Hospital of Orange County published in 2025 found pediatric e-bike crash injuries comparable in severity to motor vehicle collisions, with head or facial trauma occurring in more than 30 percent of cases.
Part of a Broader Statewide Safety Push
The Brooklyn Park crash comes as Minnesota's overall traffic fatalities have trended downward, with the state recording 370 deaths in 2025, a 22 percent decline from 475 in 2024 and the lowest total since 2019, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Office of Traffic Safety reported by MinneapoliMedia. Officials have credited the drop to stepped-up enforcement against reckless driving, even as non-motorized and juvenile crash risks remain a separate concern for suburban departments like Brooklyn Park's. The Twin Cities metro has seen a string of youth e-bike and e-scooter incidents in recent months, including an August shooting near the Stone Arch Bridge that wounded an 18-year-old amid a chaotic scooter swarm.
Brooklyn Park police have not released further updates on the children's conditions or the status of the investigation. The case remains open as officers continue reviewing the circumstances of the collision.
