A senior prank ended badly when a 17-year-old Texas student rode a dirt bike through the hallway of his high school. Police arrested the young man and he now faces felony charges.
This is not the first time a teen in the Lone Star State turned a high school into a dirt bike track but it may be the first time this kind of stunt lead to two counts of assault potentially punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
According to Round Rock police, Scott Holt Fickey, 17, rode his Honda dirt bike through a hallway known as the “mall area” at Stony Point High School at around 8:50 a.m. on June 2. The halls were filled with arriving students.
Assistant Principal Jeffrey Strickland stepped in front of Fickey on the moving motorcycle in an attempt to get the teen to stop. Allegedly, Fickey sped up to get around Strickland and lost control of the bike. It skid out from underneath him, the San Antonio Express-News reported based on the arrest affidavit.
While the bike slid, it may have broken an unidentified teacher’s right arm, causing bruises and cuts, the affidavit stated. It noted Strickland had scratches on his right arm and thumb.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Fickey allegedly attempted to get away after the bike stopped and ran through the school but Strickland tackled him to the ground. A Round Rock Independent School District police officer on campus heard screaming and saw a large group of students assembled in the area where Strickland held Fickey down on the ground. The teen apparently still wore a safety helmet with a GoPro camera mounted on it.
The officer read Fickey his rights and charged the 17-year-old with two counts of assault on a public servant, based on the alleged injuries sustained by the assistant principal and the teacher. If convicted, these third-degree felony charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The teenager also told police that the incident was meant to be a senior prank. He knew there would be people in the hallway when he rode through on the dirt bike, according to police documents.
Another Stony Point High student filmed the incident by cellphone. The Express-News included it in their report but they pointed out it doesn’t capture “what garnered the charges against the teen after he lost control of the bike and allegedly injured two employees of the school.”
Police took Fickey into custody Thursday, the day of the incident. In the original tweet, this other teen emphatically stated: “Free Scotty!”
Free scotty‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/ptPl5fOLa9
— cyrod (@CyRod22) June 2, 2016
Authorities released Fickey Friday, June 3, from the Williamson County jail after posting bond set at $30,000.
In May, another teen pulled an almost identical dirt bike stunt in the Hays Consolidated Independent School District. It is unknown if Fickey knew about the senior prank at this other Austin area school district. Even though no one was injured, Hays CISD considered the prank to be potentially dangerous to other students, according to KXAN-TV (NBC). In a letter to parents, Lehman High School’s principal explained they worked with law enforcement to determine the student’s consequences for biking through the hallways.
Hays CISD spokesman Tim Savoy told the Austin NBC affiliate: “We understand that there are senior pranks, we understand that that is going to happen and we understand that kids are going to be creative. But, we also have to be concerned about what they do, if it is going to be dangerous then it’s certainly something that we don’t want to condone or endorse.”
In the Lehman High prank, students helped open doors for the unidentified motorcyclist, who also wore a camera mounted to his safety helmet. The school district told KXAN it could not release what kind of punishment the student would receive but said it could range from suspension and criminal charges to something less serious like cleaning the school hallways. Those who helped the student with the prank could also face punishment.
“A senior prank, pretty much by definition is doing something you are not supposed to do, so you know it has a consequence going into it or otherwise it wouldn’t be any fun, so we know that they probably anticipate that there will be consequences and we are going to have to do that,” said Savoy.
In 2015, a Crosby ISD student motored through his high school’s hallways on a dirt bike as part of a senior prank in which another senior let him into the building. Houston’s KPRC 2 reported the school district’s superintendent was so irate over the incident he contacted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to press charges against both students; however, the DA’s office declined to press charges.
Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.
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