Charges brought in death of California surf heir Kolby Aipa killed in tragic crash

The driver who let a Southern California man “car surf” on side of his pickup truck has been charged nearly a year after his death.

Huntington Beach resident Brandon Scott Soleau, 21, is accused of letting 20-year-old rising surf star Kolby Aipa grab onto his vehicle as he rode on an e-bike, reaching dangerous speeds as they merged onto the Pacific Coast Highway last August.

Aipa, not wearing a helmet, then lost control and fell from the bike. He died from blunt head trauma on Aug. 5, 2025, three days after the crash.

Aipa and eight passengers were returning from a movie premiere in Huntington Beach when the crash happened.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office charged Soleau, who permitted Aipa to grab onto his 2015 Toyota Tacoma driving at about 50 miles per hour, with one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Prosecutors noted that it is illegal for any “person riding a motorcycle, motorized bicycle, bicycle, coaster, roller skates, sled or toy vehicle” to attach themselves to a vehicle on a roadway.”

Soleau will be arraigned on July 23, 2026, at the Stephen K. Tamura West Justice Center in Westminster.

“This tragedy cost the life of a young man with his entire future ahead of him and will forever impact a young man who will have to live the rest of his life knowing that he killed his friend,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

“This is a stark reminder that every action and every decision have a consequence, and in this instance the price of those decisions was the life of a 20-year-old man and that is a price no one should ever have to pay,” he added.

Aipa is the grandson of legendary Hawaiian surfboard maker Ben Aipa. Ben made the surfboard that the “father of surfing,” Fred Hemmings, rode to victory in the World Surfing Championship in Puerto Rico.

“As the founder of AIPA, Ben’s vision lives on in every board that bears his name, painstakingly built to perpetuate his life’s work. Each one is an authentic experience of surf history, heritage, and innovation,” they wrote about Ben.

The company memorialized Kolby last year.

“Kolby always had a way with touching the lives of whoever he met. His acts of kindness and caring was his gift of Aloha to friends and strangers alike,” they wrote in an Instagram post. “To everyone that reads this… pass his Aloha on. So, how Kolby treated you, treat others in that same way…In this you are continuing his legacy of Aloha.”

Soleau faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if he is convicted of his alleged crimes.

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