FOX 35 Orlando host Amy Kaufeldt spoke with Ashley LaChance, the mother of 13-year-old Colton Remsburg, after the Lake Nona boy was killed while riding an e-scooter in a crash that has now become part of a larger push for tougher rules on electric bikes and scooters in Orange County.
Kaufeldt opened the interview by noting that county leaders are considering stricter rules for e-bikes and scooters, including a countywide speed limit, citations for riders who break the rules, and warnings for parents. The discussion came just days after Colton was hit by a truck while riding his e-scooter on Moss Road in Lake Nona, according to the report.
LaChance told Kaufeldt she wants a ban on e-bikes and e-scooters for children ages 14 and under. If local leaders will not go that far, she said there should at least be helmet requirements, speed limits, fines, and more direct enforcement before another family is forced to experience what hers has endured.
A Mother’s Day Plan That Changed In Minutes
LaChance said the tragedy unfolded over Mother’s Day weekend, after what had started as a normal family conversation about how they would spend the holiday.
She told Kaufeldt that she had been at work on Saturday night when she messaged Colton and told him she wanted to have a quiet beach day with him and his brothers the next morning. Colton, in ordinary teenage fashion, was not excited about that plan, so LaChance suggested a compromise: they would spend the second half of Mother’s Day at Disney, with dinner reservations for her mother and her three boys.
Colton agreed to that plan, she said.
The next day, LaChance was on her way home from the beach to pick him up when she called and told him to be ready. In the short time between that call and what happened next, one of Colton’s friends messaged him and asked whether he wanted to go to Publix to buy Mother’s Day flowers for their moms.
LaChance said it was only about 13 minutes after she spoke with her son that her phone began blowing up with calls from one of his best friends. She missed those at first, then received a call from Colton’s stepfather.
“He said, ‘Ashley, Colton just got hit by a car,’” LaChance recalled.
From that moment, she told Kaufeldt, her world changed completely.
“My Whole World Just Changed”
LaChance said she does not fully remember how she drove to the hospital, only that she put on her flashing lights and rushed there as fast as she could.
When she arrived, doctors told her that Colton needed an emergency craniectomy. At the time, she said, she did not fully understand what the procedure meant, but the seriousness of the situation became clear after surgery, when a doctor told her the pressure in Colton’s brain was above 40.
According to LaChance, the doctor explained that pressure at that level was generally not compatible with life.
She said she refused to accept that at first. She prayed, believed in the possibility of a miracle, and said the entire community prayed with her. Friends, family, neighbors, and people from across the country reached out, gathered, and spoke life over Colton.
But on Tuesday night, she said, she knew.
LaChance described bathing Colton for the last time “just like he was my baby,” then lying next to him through the night. During one of the final eye checks by nurses, she said she looked at him and realized her son was no longer there in the way she had been praying he would be.
“I knew right then and there my baby was not in that body,” she told Kaufeldt.
It is hard to hear a mother say something like that and not understand why this issue has become urgent for her. Policy debates can often sound abstract, but LaChance is not speaking from theory; she is speaking from a hospital room, a roadside memorial, and a grief that is still fresh.
Why She Came Forward
Kaufeldt acknowledged how difficult it must have been for LaChance to appear publicly so soon after losing her son, and LaChance said she had not wanted to be in front of the media at all.
She explained that she had hoped to spend the day quietly at home, simply being near Colton’s presence and beginning to process what happened. But she said she felt a “tug” to speak out because she believes Colton would want his story to save other children.
“If his story can save other kids in our community and beyond our community, I’d be great,” LaChance said.
Her main request is clear: she wants e-bikes and e-scooters banned for children 14 and under.
LaChance told Kaufeldt that Colton had often tried to bargain with her about getting an e-bike, pointing out different models, prices, and speeds. She said he would tell her that friends had certain bikes or scooters, but she kept refusing because she did not believe children should be on roadways with machines that powerful.
She compared some of the devices to dirt bikes, recalling her own childhood in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she grew up around dirt bikes in the country. To her, the comparison is not dramatic; it is practical. These are motorized machines, and many children are using them in places where cars, trucks, intersections, and distracted drivers are part of the environment.
The Helmet Fight Parents Know Too Well
LaChance clarified that Colton had an e-scooter, not an e-bike, and said he received it for Christmas. According to her, the scooter could reach about 28 mph, which she considered more than fast enough, even though Colton told her it was not fast enough.
She said she warned him every day to be careful, look both ways, text her when he arrived at school, and wear his helmet.
The helmet, she admitted, was a daily fight. At first, children leave the house with the helmet on and clipped properly, she said. Then it becomes unclipped. Then it ends up on the handlebars. Then it disappears entirely.
“I could have bought him all the helmets in the world,” LaChance said, explaining that she could not have known where it would end up once he left the house.
She told Kaufeldt that she believes the outcome might have been different had Colton been wearing a helmet, but she also made a point that many parents of teenagers will recognize: children and teens often feel invincible, and simply telling them what to do does not always mean they will do it.
That is why she believes the rules need to be stronger than parental reminders alone.
Accountability, Forgiveness, And A Call For Enforcement
One of the most striking parts of LaChance’s interview was that she did not use the moment to place all blame on the driver.
She said people often look for someone to blame after a tragedy, but she wanted the driver to know he was forgiven. LaChance said she believed Colton ultimately went into traffic, and she did not want the driver to live imprisoned by guilt for the rest of his life.
“I just want you to know you’re forgiven because our God would forgive,” she said of the message she wanted the driver to receive.
That grace does not weaken her argument for stricter rules. In some ways, it strengthens it, because she is not speaking from a desire to punish one person after the fact; she is asking officials to prevent dangerous situations before they happen.
LaChance said that if e-bikes and e-scooters are not banned for children 14 and under, then law enforcement needs to step in with tickets and consequences every time rules are broken. She said these devices should be treated more like motor vehicles because children are using them on roadways with real traffic risks.
“If they’re not going to listen, that’s where I’d like law enforcement to step in,” LaChance told Kaufeldt, saying there cannot be leniency because leniency can lead to another tragic accident.
Orange County Considers What Comes Next
Kaufeldt said Orange County leaders are already considering tougher rules, and the broader FOX 35 report noted that local officials have been discussing citations, speed limits, warnings for parents, and stronger enforcement around e-bikes and e-scooters.
LaChance also referred to a city commissioner’s meeting where one official questioned whether adults are “setting kids up for failure” by requiring helmets for children while adults can ride motorcycles without helmets in some circumstances. LaChance said she understood the point, but argued that children are different because they are still developing and still need adults to draw firm lines.
At its core, this is the difficult part of the debate. E-bikes and e-scooters can be useful, fun, and convenient, especially in spread-out neighborhoods where children want independence before they can drive. But speed changes everything, and once a child is moving fast enough to mix with traffic, the margin for error becomes painfully small.
LaChance said she knows there will be backlash, and she knows everyone has opinions. But what she wants now is action, not just sympathy.
She described it as “Colton’s initiative,” a way to turn the worst moment of her life into something that protects other families.
Kaufeldt ended the interview by telling LaChance she was impressed by her strength and clarity so soon after such a loss. LaChance thanked FOX 35 for having her and again thanked the Lake Nona community for the support it has shown her family.
Her message was not complicated. Children are children, motorized devices are becoming faster and more common, and parents alone may not be enough to manage the danger once those devices leave the driveway.
For LaChance, the question is no longer whether the community can afford to act. After losing Colton, she is asking how many more families must suffer before it does.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
