Two Ohio cruise passengers face multiple felony charges after authorities say they forced their way into a fellow passenger's cabin and attacked three people, including a 9-year-old child, because someone asked them to keep the noise down.
Gannon Jacox, 29, and Brooklyn Hicks, 28, were arrested after their cruise ship returned to Port Canaveral, Florida, USA TODAY reported. The couple had been drinking and arguing aboard the ship when a fellow passenger asked them to quiet down. Instead of lowering their voices, authorities say, Hicks went to confront the passenger, and Jacox followed with his cell phone recording.
What happened next earned both of them a set of felony charges and a public rebuke from the local sheriff. Court records show Jacox now faces three counts of felony burglary with assault or battery, one count of felony child abuse, and one misdemeanor count of battery. Hicks was charged with one count of felony burglary with assault or battery and one count of misdemeanor battery.
Authorities say the couple pushed their way into the family's cabin after the confrontation began. Jacox allegedly told Hicks to "beat them up" as he recorded the scene on his phone. A fight broke out inside the cabin, and Jacox allegedly struck all three occupants, two adults and the 9-year-old child. The arrest affidavit states Hicks struck one of the victims as well.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey described the scene in a Facebook post that did not hold back:
"As a fight ensued Jacox ends up hitting all 3 people (including the child) and Hicks was just swinging, hoping one would land."
None of the three victims were seriously injured, authorities said. But the charges reflect the severity of what prosecutors allege took place: two adults and a child attacked inside their own cabin by strangers who forced entry.
Ivey, who posted about the arrests on August 16, made clear he viewed the incident as a straightforward case of drunken aggression. Fox News reported the sheriff's blunt assessment:
"So what's the moral of the story...if you can't hold your liquor, then you definitely shouldn't be out in public causing a scene like this and injuring random people including a child!!"
The couple was arrested when the ship docked at Port Canaveral, which falls under Brevard County jurisdiction on Florida's Atlantic coast. The name of the cruise line and the specific ship have not been disclosed by authorities.
Jacox was charged with burglary with battery and child abuse without great bodily harm, along with the misdemeanor battery count. Hicks faces burglary with battery and battery-touch/strike charges. Attorneys listed for both defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Breitbart noted that alcohol-fueled violence has become a recurring problem on cruise ships docking at Port Canaveral, adding broader context to an incident that might otherwise read as an isolated episode of bad behavior at sea.
One detail stands out in the charging documents. Jacox did not merely join the altercation, authorities say he walked over with his phone already recording and urged Hicks to attack the passengers before forcing his way in and throwing punches himself. He faces five charges in total. Hicks faces two.
The victims, whose names have not been released, were passengers in their own cabin who did nothing more provocative than ask a loud, intoxicated couple to keep it down. For that, a family that included a 9-year-old child allegedly had their door forced open and endured a physical assault from two strangers.
Several questions remain unanswered. Authorities have not said whether Jacox's cell phone recording was recovered as evidence, whether the couple has entered pleas, or what relationship the adult victims have to the child. The cruise line's silence, its name has not even been made public, leaves open questions about what security measures, if any, were in place or failed.
A family on vacation asked two adults to lower their voices. The response, according to Florida authorities, was a forced entry and a fistfight that included a child. If the charges hold, the courts will decide whether the consequences match the conduct, but it is hard to imagine any outcome that gives that family its vacation back.
