ST. JOHNS, Fla. – A Jacksonville firefighter has been charged with domestic battery in St. Johns County after deputies said he got drunk and punched and choked a woman at her house.
The exact relationship between Allen Hawk, 40, and the victim was redacted from Hawk's arrest report, but News4Jax has learned the victim is his girlfriend. He has been charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and felony domestic battery by strangulation.
Investigators confirmed Hawk is an engineer with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, which means he's eligible to not have his mugshot released.
JFRD said Hawk, who works at Fire Station 30 and has been with the department since 2004, has been taken off field duty pending its investigation.
Deputies said they were called Monday night to Memorial Emergency Care at Julington Creek and found a woman with bruising and swelling around her eye, a cut on her bottom lip and signs of redness around her neck.
They said she spoke with a raspy voice and told them Hawk had come to her home in St. Johns that day, drank to intoxication, got upset with her “for not talking to him” and then punched her in the face.
She said he choked her until she passed out, and when she came to, she went to her sister's home in the same neighborhood to get help.
Deputies said the sister drove the woman to the emergency room, but the victim passed out again in the car and the sister needed help from security to get her into the building.
Doctors told investigators the victim suffered a concussion during the attack, according to the report.
When deputies contacted Hawk, he said he'd argued with the woman but “nothing physical happened.”
Hawk was taken to the St. Johns County Jail and booked on domestic battery charges.
News4Jax learned Hawk's ex-wife filed a domestic violence injunction against him in 2015, after she accused him of assaulting her. He was later arrested and charged with violating that injunction and threatened to take his own life. He was Baker Acted.
Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, worked with Hawk in the past.
"He’s a good firefighter, does his job very well and seems to be someone you can trust to as a firefighter to help you when you’re in trouble," Wyse told News4Jax on Tuesday.
Wyse said, as a firefighter, Hawk was an upstanding professional. But Wyse said the allegations are troubling.
“Firefighters are held to a higher standard," Wyse said. "So obviously, there’s a little bit more scrutiny put on situations like this than probably any other citizen out there that isn’t entrusted with public safety.”
To learn more about domestic violence or get help, the following resources are available:
- Hubbard House (Baker and Duval counties): hubbardhouse.org or (904) 354-3114
- Micah's Place (Nassau County): micahsplace.net or (904) 225-9979
- Betty Griffin House (St. Johns County): bettygriffinhouse.org or (904) 824-1555
- Quigley House (Clay County): quigleyhouse.org or (904) 284-0061