Police respond to dispute over 3-year-old at Florida soccer game

Police responded to a youth soccer game near Orlando, Florida, after a dispute involving a 3-year-old player whose parents say he was being excluded because he was too good. A league organizer gave officers a different account: Nevada had pushed other children, he said, and the boy’s parents had argued with others at the game.

Video posted by Nevada’s parents shows him dribbling around children one and two years older than he is. The footage does not show him pushing anyone, The Guardian reported. Police body-camera video captures the competing accounts as officers speak with the family and the organizer.

“The kid is very good… He’s great. Really good,” Thomas Hayes, a director of the i9 Sports youth league, told officers, according to CBS News. Hayes said Nevada was scoring frequently but also pushing other players. He said he had told the children not to push and had instructed referees not to allow it.

Hayes told police Nevada’s parents objected to those instructions and created “a big scene, arguing with other parents.” He also described an earlier disagreement, weeks before, when he rotated players out of a game, including Nevada. Hayes said he wanted the family to leave and was willing to refund them.

Nevada’s mother disputed that account. In the body-camera footage, she said her family stands on the opposite side of the field from other parents to avoid disruption. She said other parents had gathered during the game to talk about her son.

“They’re literally kicking him out of this place because he’s good at soccer,” she told officers. She said she had been told Nevada was not passing the ball, but that other children were not catching it when he did. Nevada’s mother told CBS News a coach had said the boy could stay in the game if he passed the ball; she said police became involved about halfway through.

In a video recorded by the family, Nevada’s father said, “They called the police on a 3-year-old because he’s too good.” Speaking later with media personality Lauren Lorosa, his mother said, “My son is already dressed. I cannot explain to my 3-year-old son that he cannot play today because he is so good.”

The Winter Park Police Department said the family agreed to leave after the game. “The family was cooperative with the officers,” the department said. “No one was arrested, trespassed, or forced to leave the park.”

The videos have circulated widely online, drawing support for Nevada’s family as well as criticism of his parents. YouTube personality Ms. Rachel said she would like to have Nevada on her show, CBS News reported. One coach wrote online that the parents “should be ashamed of themselves.”

i9 Sports said it had contacted the family and begun a review that includes speaking with those involved. “The respectful treatment and well-being of every child and family matter deeply to us,” the league said, adding that it would not speculate or share unverified information.