A youth flag football coach was arrested after authorities alleged he placed a 15-year-old opposing player in a chokehold during a postgame altercation involving his daughter. Brandon Mayer, 37, was taken into custody on suspicion of felony battery by strangulation on Wednesday, October 28, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office jail records. He was released on bond the following day, and prosecutors have not yet filed formal charges.
The incident occurred on October 20 following a game at Greenview Shores Park in Wellington. According to a probable cause affidavit, a dispute erupted between Mayer’s daughter and an opposing player. A witness informed responding deputies that one of the girls grabbed the other by the hair and pulled her to the ground.
The confrontation reportedly stemmed from postgame trash talk.
“She started making fun of me for losing the game,” Sophia Lopez, 15, told CBS 12 News. “The one thing I said to her that set her off was, ‘You just fell on your face, and it’s a rec game.'”
According to the affidavit, a witness stated that Mayer intervened and applied a “choking mechanism” to Lopez.
“It felt everything was so tight,” Lopez told CBS 12 News. “It felt like I was just, I was never gonna get out until I just saw black.”
The affidavit further states that Lopez’s father attempted to de-escalate the situation, after which the group fell to the ground. A witness reported that Mayer’s daughter kicked Lopez’s father in the face during the scuffle.
Mayer provided investigators with a different account, stating he was packing up equipment when he observed the two teenagers grappling. According to the affidavit, Mayer claimed he stepped between the players and extended his arms to separate them. He denied placing his hands on Lopez’s neck or body and demonstrated his stance for deputies.
Mayer’s daughter told deputies that both men fell on top of her when the group collapsed, adding that she kicked her legs in an attempt to free herself, unintentionally striking both her father and Lopez’s father.
Deputies also arrested Mayer’s daughter on suspicion of misdemeanor simple battery.
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