called the officer\u2019s actions \u201cunprovoked\u201d and \u201cegregious,\u201d<\/a> adding that they violated both policy and the child\u2019s rights. <\/p>\n\u201cThis was obviously a very scary interaction,\u201d Schott said. \u201cIt\u2019s made worse by the fact that the defendant in this case, the assailant, has a position of power and could use that position of power against the victim and his family. They\u2019re in fear, they\u2019re very afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident took place at South Beach skate park, where signs clearly prohibit e-bikes on the grounds. Schott said the situation could have been handled differently and that the family is now considering felony charges against Hicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve officially filed our notice of appearance pursuant to Marcy\u2019s law in the criminal case, which I intend to appear at the hearing that is coming up in February,\u201d Schott said. \u201cWe also will file a statement of claim and a notice of representation to Mr. Hicks and to the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks\u2019 attorney told News4JAX that his client acted out of fear that someone would be seriously injured by teenagers riding what he called \u201celectric motorcycles\u201d through the park. Schott disagrees with that explanation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he was truly doing the right thing and investigating in his capacity as a law enforcement officer, he would not have left the scene,\u201d she said. \u201cHe would have worked with the Jacksonville Beach Police in order to investigate any alleged crimes that occurred. But the reality of the situation is that he was in the wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks has pleaded not guilty to the charges and bonded out of jail last week. He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 17. JSO has administratively reassigned Hicks while its internal investigation continues.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 An off-duty officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office is facing misdemeanor battery charges after an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,1415,1872],"class_list":["post-135837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-sheriffs-office","tag-jso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}