A youth flag football coach was arrested after deputies said he put another parent in a chokehold during a postgame fight at Greenview Park in Wellington. The incident happened Oct. 20, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit.
Brandon Mayer, 37, faces a felony charge of battery by strangulation. Investigators identified him as the coach of the UCF Knights youth flag football team and the father of one of the juvenile players involved.
The affidavit says the trouble started after the game, when two girls got into a physical fight. Witnesses told deputies that one girl grabbed the other by the hair and pulled her to the ground. Parents then joined in.
The man Mayer is accused of choking, identified in the report as the father of one of the juveniles, told investigators that Mayer held him in a chokehold and that he struggled to breathe. An independent witness said he saw Mayer with an arm around the man’s neck. Deputies found probable cause for the charge based on those accounts.
Mayer denied choking the man. He told deputies he was trying to separate the two girls. A juvenile battery charge was also filed against Mayer’s daughter in connection with the original fight.
The Sheriff’s Office says the case remains under review.
