A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office homicide detective was arrested Tuesday morning after the sheriff said he hit a referee at a children’s soccer game.
Sgt. Michael Russell is facing a charge of battery on a sports official, which is a third-degree felony, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said.
Waters said the JSO Integrity Unit began investigating Russell this weekend “when the agency was notified of a potential criminal allegation.”
Russell attended the soccer game “plain clothes and in an non-official capacity” on Saturday, Waters said.
A fight broke out during the game among the players on the teams and the referees were trying to break the fight up.
The referees continuously blew their whistles, which they are trained to do, Waters said.
Russell walked on to the field and struck one of the referees in the face, knocking the whistle out of his mouth, Waters said.
“It’s really confusing to me. It’s at a kids’ sporting event, the referee is blowing the whistle as we probably hear them do in football games, in anything, when those kind of things break out. For some reason, he struck that official. Disappointing,” Waters said when asked why Russell did this.
Investigators are working with prosecutors at the State Attorney’s Office on the pending criminal case against Russell.
Russell has been with JSO since 2008 and he became a sergeant in 2019.
Waters said Russell is currently still employed with JSO, but he is defrocked and is no longer with the Homicide Unit.
“We are a society of laws and no one is above those laws,” Waters said of the arrest.
This is the second JSO employee arrested in 2023, Waters said.