Parents of Burlingame 4-year-old Killed in Crash Sue City, Young Driver

The parents of a 4-year-old child struck and killed by a car while on the sidewalk in downtown Burlingame filed a lawsuit against multiple parties on Thursday, alleging “preventable failures.”

On the evening of Aug. 8, 2025, Ayden Fang was playing with a friend on the sidewalk outside Truffle Poké Bar on Donnelly Avenue while his family sat nearby. Around 6:20 p.m., a vehicle crashed onto the sidewalk, killing him.

The family’s lawsuit alleges that nineteen-year-old driver Mari Abey, who was attempting to exit a parking lot, had an obstructed view of oncoming traffic by a large SUV legally parked by the driveway. At the same time, an 11-year-old boy riding east on a Class 2 electric bicycle while carrying his 10-year-old sister as a passenger, collided with the SUV’s door. Abey accelerated over the curb and onto the sidewalk, striking Fang, before crashing through the front of the restaurant.

An 11-year-old driving an e-bike and having a passenger are both prohibited by the e-bike’s user manual.

The lawsuit stated that since the tragedy, Burlingame now prohibits parking in the spot in question.

Fang’s parents are suing the city of Burlingame, the 19-year-old driver of the SUV and her parents, and the parents of the child riding the e-bike.

“This tragedy was preventable on multiple levels. Ignoring basic safety caused this result,” said Niall P. McCarthy, the attorney for Ayden’s parents, Xiaoming Fang and Ting Ting Liu, in an emailed statement.

Fang spoke about his son at a press conference on Thursday.

“He was cheated of his years. His toddler brother was robbed of a loving sibling and a best friend for life. My wife and I were denied the sacred right of watching Ayden blossom through his teenage and adult years. Our lives, as we knew them, shattered,” Fang said.

The family has created two scholarships in Ayden’s name, one to support families with financial need to attend Ayden’s former preschool, and another in support of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation, to honor Ayden’s love of space and flight.

“What are we left with? We’re left only with an opportunity to honor Ayden’s life and spirit by doing good,” Fang said.

But the father cited a greater mission: “To prevent just one other family from experiencing what therapists and other grief experts call the worst loss,” he said.

Fang and Liu brought a Lego tower to the press conference that Ayden had constructed two days before his death. As the 4-year-old built, the family said, Ayden incorporated blocks that said “Protect our city,” with four animals perched at the top, overlooking what happens below.

When the parents looked more closely at his work in the days following his death, the structure became a call from Ayden to protect others, which had been a key element of who he was.

“Nothing can lessen the pain of missing his hugs, his kisses, his acts of kindness,” Fang said. “But by taking action today, we can create opportunities.”

Fang said he and his family hope for contrition from the families involved in the crash, for elected leaders to enact stricter laws on children riding e-bikes and for the Department of Motor Vehicles to “take reckless drivers off our streets.”

“The family has made clear to us from the beginning that this case is not about money,” McCarthy said. “It’s about saving lives and improving safety.”

In January 2026, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe declined to file charges, citing insufficient evidence of criminal negligence.