In Jacksonville Beach, Fla., the lawyer defending a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer, alleged to have forcefully subdued a teenager at a skate park, argues that his client was acting to safeguard other children from a potentially hazardous motorcycle, not an e-bike as previously reported.

Philip Vogelsang, who serves as general counsel for the Fraternal Order of Police, informed First Coast News that the incident on January 17 at Sunshine Park skate park involved a motorcycle powered by a battery, capable of reaching speeds of 50 mph.

“The vehicle in question was essentially a battery-powered motorcycle capable of traveling at 50 miles per hour,” Vogelsang explained.

A video capturing the incident, which First Coast News acquired from a parent present at the park, seems to show 36-year-old Stephen Hicks, a veteran of five years with the JSO, removing the teenager from the motorcycle and bringing him to the ground.

Hicks was off-duty with his family at the time, according to the sheriff’s office.

Witnesses told police he showed his badge afterward. Hicks now faces a misdemeanor battery charge and has been released on bond. He’s been reassigned within JSO pending the investigation, with his next court hearing set for Feb. 17.

Vogelsang argues riders of that bike need to have a motorcycle license, be 16 years or older, and be restricted to roadways, not skate parks.

“This was a motorcycle, so the crime of reckless driving was being committed at a park where a child could have been killed by a vehicle, and this officer chose to put the safety of the public first,” he said.

He said multiple parents had already warned the kids to stop riding before Hicks intervened.

A witness previously told First Coast News, “They were both on the wrong side, but like that wasn’t fair to do that to the kid.”

“The actions of the officer, that’s, no. I mean, that’s, that’s too much,” he said.

A child who saw it all unfold called the officer’s actions “frightening.”

JSO internal records show Hicks has faced eight investigations since 2022, including five chargeable traffic crashes, which Vogelsang called routine and automatically investigated per policy.

He received informal counseling in 2022 for a response-to-resistance violation and in 2023 for a secondary employment issue. A 2024 allegation of unnecessary use of force was reviewed, but officials determined Hicks acted lawfully.

“The only discipline he’s ever received was for a traffic crash, and those are automatically, it’s not a complaint filed by a citizen,” Vogelsang said. “Every traffic crash is on an officer’s record.”

Vogelsang urged patience with the process and said that despite his disciplinary record, Hicks was doing what he believed was right to protect others. 

“Unfortunately, he has to now go through this process for what he perceived as being a good deed that day and helping prevent a child from being seriously injured,” Vogelsang said. “Let the investigation play out. There’s a criminal investigation that’s there for a reason, and those facts are gonna come to fruition. His intervening that day potentially saved a kid’s life.”