An Oviedo 11-year-old e-dirt bike ride to a nearby fishing spot ended with police fingerprinting the boy, towing his bike and ordering him to appear in Florida court — a response his father calls “one of the most absurd overreaches of justice” he has ever seen.
Newly released body-camera video shows officers stopping 11-year-old Cade Kirchner on Labor Day as he rode an electric dirt bike toward a fishing spot in Oviedo, according to News 6’s report on the encounter. Cade was carrying a fishing pole and told officers he was trying to get where he was going faster.
His father, Chris Kirchner, does not dispute that his son may have violated traffic rules. What he disputes is how police handled an 11-year-old.
“It’s one of the most absurd overreaches of justice I’ve ever seen,” Kirchner told News 6.
The boy was fingerprinted, issued a citation requiring a court appearance and had the electric dirt bike hauled away by a city wrecker. In the body-camera footage, an officer also warns Cade that failing to appear in court could result in a warrant.
Police Say It Was Legally a Motorcycle, Not an E-Bike
Oviedo police are standing by the stop.
The city told FOX 35 Orlando that Cade was riding a 4,500-watt electric motorcycle with no pedals. Police said that meant the machine did not qualify as an electric bicycle under Florida law and instead had to meet requirements for a motorcycle operating on a public road.
Florida’s statutory definition of an electric bicycle requires fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts. Florida Statute 316.003 spells out three classes of legal electric bicycles, with assisted speeds topping out at either 20 or 28 mph depending on the class.
Police said the dirt bike therefore needed to be registered and the rider needed a driver’s license with a motorcycle endorsement.
Officers issued one citation under Florida’s motor-vehicle registration law. State law generally requires motor vehicles operated on Florida roads to be registered. Florida Statute 320.02
The city also pointed to a Florida law involving identification during traffic stops. Under Florida Statute 322.15, a person who fails to display a driver’s license when required can be made to provide fingerprints on a citation. Police said that provision was why Cade was fingerprinted after he could not provide a license.
Of course, Cade is 11.
“The officer treated him as if he was an adult on a motorcycle,” his father told News 6.
Father and Police Give Different Accounts of the Bike’s Speed
There is also a significant disagreement over how fast the bike was traveling.
News 6 reported that police said Cade was riding the 4,500-watt electric motorcycle at 50 mph when he was stopped.
But Cade’s father separately told FOX 35 that the dirt bike was capped at 20 mph and that his son was riding on the shoulder only a few hundred feet from home on his way to fish.
Cade told News 6 that he chose the edge of the roadway because he worried that riding on the sidewalk would scare pedestrians while riding in the travel lane would anger drivers.
“If I go in the road, I’m going to make the cars mad,” he said, explaining why he chose the roadside instead.
The available reports do not resolve the competing speed claims.
Oviedo Was Already Wrestling With Kids on Electric Bikes
The encounter comes as Oviedo officials have been debating how to handle the growing number of electric bikes, scooters and other high-powered electric devices being used by children.
Months before Cade’s stop, the City of Oviedo warned residents about unsafe e-mobility use, saying officers had received complaints about groups of children riding in roadways and would use traffic stops, education and citations to address violations.
City leaders are now considering a local micromobility ordinance. At a recent discussion, residents raised concerns about children being arrested or fingerprinted over electric-bike violations, while police officials said violations of the proposed
