Brandon Mayer

Introduction

Brandon Mayer, a 37-year-old youth flag football coach from the Lake Worth area of Florida, was arrested October 28, 2026, and charged with felony battery by strangulation after deputies said he put a 15-year-old opposing player in a chokehold following a postgame handshake line in Wellington. Mayer, identified in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit as the coach of the UCF Knights youth flag football team and the father of one of the juvenile players involved, was booked and released the next afternoon on bond. He denies choking anyone, telling deputies he was trying to separate two fighting girls.

Background Information

The confrontation traces to October 20, 2026, after a youth flag football game at Greenview Shores Park in Wellington, Florida, where Mayer’s UCF Knights had just won 6-0. According to the arrest report, the two teams were exchanging postgame handshakes when a fight broke out between two players: Sophia Lopez, 15, whose team had lost, and Mayer’s 16-year-old daughter, who is not being named because of her age. A referee told deputies that Mayer’s daughter grabbed Sophia by the hair and pulled her to the ground; Sophia said the girl “started making fun of me for losing the game” and that her own comment — “You just fell on your face, and it’s a rec game” — set the girl off.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not convicted. Mayer was arrested October 28, 2026, on a felony charge of battery by strangulation — a third-degree felony under Florida law — following an Oct. 20 postgame altercation at Greenview Shores Park in Wellington, and released the following afternoon on a $7,500 bond. His 16-year-old daughter was also arrested and charged with simple battery. He has not entered a plea, and every allegation against him remains an unadjudicated accusation.

Per court documents viewed by the NY Post and the arrest affidavit, Mayer intervened in the girls’ fight by putting Sophia Lopez in a chokehold for approximately 15 seconds — the head referee described a “choking mechanism,” and Sophia’s father and coach, Ryan Lopez, told deputies Mayer held his daughter for about 15 seconds. “It felt everything was so tight,” Sophia told CBS12 News. “It felt like I was just, I was never gonna get out until I just saw black.” She was evaluated by Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and taken to Palms West Hospital; her father said she suffers non-epileptic seizures under severe stress and was losing consciousness during the hold.

The brawl then widened: the group fell to the ground as Ryan Lopez stepped in, and he said Mayer’s daughter kicked him in the face with her cleat as he tried to get up — “All I did was just pull [Mayer] down, and then while I’m trying to get up, she pulls my chain and then kicks me in the face with her cleat,” Lopez said. Mayer and his daughter left the park, but a parent photographed their car’s license plate and handed the information to PBSO. Eight days later, on October 28, a deputy went to Mayer’s Lake Worth-area home to question him and his daughter.

Mayer denied choking the teen, claiming he stepped between his daughter and another player to separate them and never grabbed anyone by the neck; his daughter told deputies her father grabbed her around the shoulder and upper body, and that she had grabbed Lopez by the shirt as the fight began. But investigators cited an independent witness who reported seeing Mayer’s arm around the victim’s neck, along with Sophia’s account of difficulty breathing, and a deputy found probable cause for the felony strangulation charge against Mayer and a misdemeanor simple battery charge against his daughter.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The image of a grown coach choking a child player in a recreational league spread quickly once the NY Post picked up the Wellington story, and the family’s accounts carried the coverage. “It was terrifying,” Ryan Lopez told CBS12. “It was terrifying for me. It was terrifying for the parents that were there.” Sophia described bruises across her stomach and said her body was “so tense and so hurting because I mean, my body’s regaining oxygen,” and said afterward she was leaning on her faith as she tried to move forward. Aggregate coverage noted that accounts of exactly who was placed in the chokehold — the 15-year-old player, per the affidavit as reported by CBS12 and the Post, or another parent, per WPBF’s reading — diverge across outlets.

Current Status

Mayer, 37, was released from custody on October 29, 2026, after bond was set at $7,500, per CBS12’s reading of the arrest report. The felony battery by strangulation charge is pending; no plea has been entered and no trial date has been reported, and the case remains under review by the State Attorney’s Office. His 16-year-old daughter faces a juvenile simple battery charge in the same brawl. All involved are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Whatever youth-sports coaching life Mayer had is over in any practical sense: he is now the arrested coach in a documented child-choking case, named in a PBSO affidavit and a Palm Beach County court file that reporters have quoted at length. The strangulation charge he faces is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison under Florida statute — a scale far removed from the recreational league where he volunteered. For the Lopez family, the episode left a 15-year-old hospitalized for evaluation and a father describing a park scene he called terrifying, with a criminal case now standing in for the apology they never got.

Sources

NY Post, “Flag football coach arrested for allegedly choking player in brawl that involved daughter,” Oct 30, 2026 — source
WPEC CBS12 News, “Wellington youth flag football coach accused of choking teen after game,” Oct 2026 — source
WPBF 25 News, “Coach arrested on felony strangulation charge after youth flag football brawl in Wellington,” Oct 2026 — source
Hoodline, “Wellington Coach Charged With Strangulation After Youth Game,” Oct 30, 2026 — source
County Crime Watch Palm Beach, “Coach charged after alleged chokehold at Wellington youth football field,” Oct 2026 — source
@nypost trigger tweet, Oct 30, 2026 — source