The youngster had grabbed his fishing pole and headed toward a nearby pond on Labor Day, September 7, when his afternoon suddenly turned into a legal headache.
Cade’s father, Chris Kirchner, said his son had been riding along the shoulder of the road.
The family says the electric bike was capped at approximately 20 mph.
But under Florida’s vehicle laws, the machine’s specifications created a much bigger problem than its relatively modest top speed.
The electric dirt bike reportedly has a 4,500-watt motor and foot pegs rather than functioning pedals.
That distinction meant authorities considered Cade’s bike a motorcycle rather than an electric bicycle.
And once the vehicle fell into the motorcycle category, an entirely different set of legal requirements came into play.
Florida requires motorcycles operated on public roads to meet registration and insurance requirements, while their operators must also satisfy applicable licensing rules.
Cade, of course, is 11 years old.
Police ultimately cited the sixth grader under Florida Statute 320.02 for allegedly operating an unregistered motor vehicle.
The citation requires a court appearance.
The encounter became even more unusual when officers needed identification for the ticket.
Because Cade didn’t have a driver’s license, police used his fingerprint on the citation to satisfy identification requirements.
Then came another surprise for the family.
Authorities wouldn’t simply allow Cade to push the bike back to his nearby house.
Instead, the electric dirt bike was loaded onto a city wrecker and towed away because authorities said it “is not legally allowed on the roadway.”
Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek acknowledged that Cade was a “good kid” while explaining that the officers were dealing with definitions established by state law rather than city rules.
“The State of Florida regulates motorcycle use, and the definition of what counts as a motorcycle and what counts as an e-bike,” Mayor Sladek said.
“Even if it has two wheels, if it doesn’t have pedals, the State of Florida will classify that as a motorcycle and not as an e-bike.”
Police also reportedly noted that officers could have written additional citations but decided to issue only one.
For an 11-year-old whose apparent objective was simply to spend some time fishing, however, one citation was enough to land him a date in court.
Body-camera footage captured another moment likely to raise eyebrows among parents.
An officer warned Cade about what could happen if he failed to show up for his scheduled hearing.
If he didn’t appear, the officer told him, “they’re going to put out a warrant.”
That means an elementary-aged child who traveled only a few hundred feet from his house with a fishing pole now has to deal with a mandatory court proceeding over his electric dirt bike.
Making matters more frustrating for the family, the hearing is reportedly scheduled during a school day.
Cade will therefore have to miss class to appear.
His father plans to ask prosecutors to throw out the case.
The circumstances surrounding how Cade obtained the bike add another dimension to the story.
The 11-year-old reportedly didn’t simply receive the machine as an expensive gift from his parents.
He earned money toward it himself.
Cade reportedly raised $900 through a summer business selling squirrel tables before getting the electric bike.
The incident highlights a growing problem facing families as electric bikes, dirt bikes, scooters and other battery-powered vehicles become increasingly popular among young riders.
To an ordinary consumer, two electric machines capable of similar speeds might appear to belong to essentially the same category.
Under state law, however, seemingly small design differences — including whether a vehicle has pedals — can completely change how authorities classify it.
In Cade’s case, that distinction transformed what his family viewed as a short ride to a neighborhood fishing spot into an encounter involving police, fingerprints, a tow truck, a citation and a courtroom.
Now the Kirchner family is hoping prosecutors will bring the unusual case to an end.
Until then, an 11-year-old boy’s roughly 300-foot fishing trip stands as a striking example of what can happen when increasingly popular electric recreational vehicles collide with laws written around very specific vehicle classifications.
