El Cerrito police have started impounding illegal electric motorcycles along the Ohlone Greenway, setting up a cruiser near the public library and Fairmount Elementary School to stop two-wheeled vehicles that looked like they had foot pegs instead of pedals. As of Monday, officers had seized at least two of the devices near Stockton Street, part of a new operation targeting e-motos that can hit speeds of up to 50 miles per hour and are marketed mostly to teenagers.
The crackdown comes after El Cerrito Vice Mayor Rebecca Saltzman said more people have contacted the city with concerns about speeds on the greenway, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Police Chief Paul Keith posted an Instagram video this month pledging to increase enforcement, describing e-motos as electric motorcycles that exceed 20 miles per hour on throttle alone or carry more than 750 watts of power. Keith said officers would watch for unsafe vehicles and risky driving behavior and issue tickets accordingly.
Residents Split Over Whether the Response Fits the Problem
Not everyone welcomes the heavier police presence. Collin Sutton called the operation overkill, per the Chronicle's reporting, reflecting pushback from some riders and families who see the crackdown as excessive. Susan Wong offered a different view, saying e-motos sometimes nearly run people over and make walking less safe for children, a sentiment echoed by pedestrians and parents who use the path daily.
The greenway runs through a corridor the city has long monitored closely. El Cerrito previously built a nine-camera police surveillance network along the Ohlone Greenway and planned a system upgrade adding ten cameras at several locations, including the Greenway at Fairmount Avenue. Authorities are also seeing a broader rise in injury collisions tied to e-motos, the Chronicle's report notes, a trend playing out across the region rather than in El Cerrito alone.
Why E-Motos Keep Landing on the Wrong Side of the Law
The confusion for many riders and parents starts with what actually counts as a legal e-bike. California Vehicle Code Section 312.5 caps legal electric bicycles at 750 watts of motor output and a 20 mph maximum speed on throttle alone, a limit that prompted California Attorney General Rob Bonta to issue an alert warning that more powerful vehicles are legally mopeds or motorcycles no matter how retailers label them, according to SoCalCycling. Those limits distinguish legal e-bikes from more powerful or faster vehicles.
Under California Highway Patrol guidelines, two-wheeled electric vehicles without operable pedals or exceeding 20 mph or 750 watts are not electric bicycles. Riders of mopeds or motorcycles need an M-1 or M-2 license endorsement, a DOT-compliant helmet, and state registration. Nearby Albany police impounded seven e-motos between October and December of 2025, suggesting the issue has been building across the East Bay well before El Cerrito's operation began.
Parents Face Criminal Exposure Elsewhere in Contra Costa County
The stakes extend beyond citations and impoundments. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton filed child abuse charges in March against the parents of a teenager who suffered severe injuries in a Sur-Ron Light Bee crash near De La Salle High School in Walnut Creek, according to court filings reported by the Daily Journal. Prosecutors cited the fact that the parents had repeatedly allowed the teen to keep riding despite prior law enforcement citations. Hoodline previously covered that case in detail.
That prosecution is not an isolated move. In Orange County, a father was charged with felony child abuse on March 3, 2026, after his 12-year-old son suffered serious injuries on a modified e-motorcycle capable of 60 mph, despite having received explicit police safety warnings beforehand, the Daily Journal reported. Together with El Cerrito's new enforcement push, the cases point to a broader pattern of California district attorneys and police departments treating illegal e-motos as both a traffic hazard and, in the worst crashes, a matter of parental accountability.
El Cerrito's operation also lands amid a wave of regional scrutiny. In recent weeks, Hoodline has reported on Sacramento's push for tougher e-bike enforcement as injuries climb and on Modesto's consideration of fines reaching $5,000 for illegal e-bike use. Whether El Cerrito's impoundments near Fairmount Elementary curb the complaints Saltzman has heard, or simply fuel more residents who see the response as overkill, is likely to play out on the greenway in the coming weeks.
