Families that fight together (allegedly) get arrested together.
A father and daughter found themselves in handcuffs after a brawl following a flag football game in which the father, who was also his daughter’s coach, allegedly choked a teenage girl.
The fight began in the handshake line following an October 20 game in Palm Beach, Florida, where a 16-year-old girl is alleged to have pulled 15-year-old Sophia Lopez to the ground by her hair.
“She started making fun of me for losing the game,” Lopez told CBS12 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.'”
After the alleged assault, the head referee says that 37-year-old Brandon Mayer, the 16-year-old girl’s father and coach, employed a “choking mechanism” on the 15-year-old.
“It felt like everything was so tight,” Lopez said. “It felt like I was just, I was never gonna get out until I just saw black.”
Ryan Lopez, Sophia’s coach and father, described the alleged choke.
“It was a complete choke,” Lopez said. “So, he’s pulling her forward, and he’s trying to pull her back, not by her waist, which would be the common-sense thing to do.”
Ryan then jumped into the fray, and the entire group ended up on the ground. Ryan further claims that Mayer’s daughter kicked him in the face with her cleat while he was on the ground.
Mayer and his daughter dispute the referee’s account and the Lopez family’s version. Mayer claims that his daughter was in fact the one who was assaulted and that he merely tried to break up the fight.
However, authorities in Palm Beach did not find their claims convincing, as both father and daughter were charged with varying degrees of assault. Brandon faces charges of felony Battery by Strangulation. His daughter has been charged with simple assault.
Mayer was booked on October 28 and released the following day on a $75,000 bond.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.