Fatal e-scooter accident emerges just as California legalizes riding without a helmet

A 24-year-old Dallas man who died after falling off a Lime electric scooter was killed by blunt force injuries to his head, county officials said Thursday, likely making him the first person to die while riding the electric mobility devices that have swept across the nation this year. The death of Jacoby Stoneking has been ruled an accident, the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office told The Washington Post before releasing the information publicly. Police said Stoneking was riding a Lime scooter home from a restaurant where he works when the accident occurred. He was found unconscious and badly injured in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, several hundred yards from a scooter that was broken in half. He was not wearing a helmet, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk freely about the investigation. The determination by Dallas officials emerged just after California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill Wednesday that makes it legal for adults to ride electric scooters without a helmet.