Inside the Chaos at Playoffs II: The Midnight Brawl That Involved Winfield’s Mayor and Two Off-Duty Officers

Editor’s Note: This article is Part 1 of an exclusive four-part investigative series by Lincoln CountyWatch unmasking the December 2025 Winfield bar fight. Over the last several months, our team has spoken with numerous individuals and reviewed unedited files to reconstruct the definitive account of a night that shook local government. Here is what is coming next in this special release:

• Part 1 (Current - Free): The Midnight Brawl: An event-by-event chronological breakdown of the physical altercation.

  
  

• Part 2 (Subscriber Early Access): Behind Closed Doors: A deep dive into the hidden city hall investigations, staff terminations, and the special prosecutor's decision.

  
  

• Part 3 (Subscribers Only): Tape Review: A complete overview of the newly released surveillance video footage.

  
  

• Part 4 (Free for Everyone): The Nicole Hanson Interview: Facing accountability and the future of Winfield leadership.

  
  

To unlock early access to Part 2 and secure exclusive entry to the video overview in Part 3, support our independent journalism by becoming a subscriber today.

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WINFIELD, Mo. — On the evening of Saturday, December 20, 2025, the City of Winfield hosted its annual employee awards banquet at Gettemeier’s Bar in St. Peters. Mayor Nicole Hanson presented gifts and plaques, commending municipal workers for their dedication. Eyewitnesses described the initial gathering as an entirely positive event with no visible friction between attendees. 

Toward the end of the banquet, off-duty Winfield Police Officers Benjamin Freet and Dwayne Lewis left the venue alongside their spouses. The group traveled to a casino in St. Charles. While there, accounts indicate the group received multiple communications from Mayor Hanson, who invited them to meet her at Playoffs 2 Sports Bar and Grill in Winfield, offering to cover their bar tabs. The group accepted and made the drive back to Lincoln County. 

The front parking lot of Playoffs II where the final confrontation took place, and where responding Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies arrived after multiple frantic 911 calls reported a public official was unconscious on the ground.

They arrived at Playoffs 2 in formal banquet attire, with Officer Benjamin Freet wearing a suit and Officer Dwayne Lewis in a dress tie. The atmosphere in the bar grew tense almost immediately, as the off-duty officers recognized individuals they had previously encountered in the line of duty. A patron pulled Officer Dwayne Lewis aside, issuing a blunt warning that "them dudes back there did not like it," increasing the group's discomfort. 

Long before the group ever stepped foot inside the bar, the initial seeds of conflict were planted during an interim stop. After leaving the city banquet, Mayor Hanson traveled to a holiday-themed haunted house attraction in Old Monroe. While at the location, the Mayor received a phone call involving Officer Dwayne Lewis, which was placed on speakerphone. 

An individual working at the attraction was standing nearby and overheard the conversation. The witness explicitly noted that a female voice on the other end of the line was aggressively shouting derogatory words into the phone, repeatedly calling Mayor Hanson a "bit**h" and a "cu*t." 

According to the witness, Mayor Hanson simply laughed off the background vitriol at the time, asking those around her if they heard it. However, the extreme hostility generated during that speakerphone call directly set the tone for the rest of the night. When the off-duty group later arrived at the bar, the atmosphere remained highly charged, with immediate friction building between the parties. 

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Upon the group's arrival at Playoffs 2, Mayor Hanson attempted to keep the evening cordial by purchasing a round of shots. However, the underlying personal conflict rapidly breached the surface. Officer Benjamin Freet's spouse openly accused the Mayor of an inappropriate relationship with Officer Benjamin Freet. Mayor Hanson denied the accusation, and later recalled experiencing what felt like "hours of me being called a piece of shit and a cunt and a whore," culminating in the spouse calling her a "fat fu***ng whore." 

As the insults grew louder, Officer Benjamin Freet intervened, stating they were going to "hash this out right now." Officer Benjamin Freet escorted his wife, Mayor Hanson, and Officer Dwayne Lewis out onto the bar’s enclosed exterior patio. To prevent other patrons and staff from following them, Officer Benjamin Freet shut the exterior door behind the group and firmly blocked it with his foot. Bartenders and staff noticed the commotion and forced the patio door open to monitor the unfolding situation. 

The main entrance and patio pavilion layout where Officer Benjamin Freet shut the exterior door and blocked it with his foot to keep bystanders inside as the argument escalated.

Once outside, the argument escalated. Mayor Hanson was seen shoving Officer Dwayne Lewis and putting her finger in his face before walking over and putting her finger directly in his spouse's face. While the group began moving toward their vehicle parked directly in front of the gate, words continued to be exchanged over the patio fence. 

A female patron stepped onto the patio, took a plastic cup of water off a nearby table, and walked toward the fence line. At approximately 12:39 a.m. video time, the patron stepped past the Mayor and tossed the water directly into Officer Benjamin Freet's face, splashing Officer Dwayne Lewis who was standing behind him. 

The action caused an immediate reaction. Officer Benjamin Freet aggressively charged the fence to pursue the patron. As he attempted to hurdle the partition, his foot caught the top rail, sending him falling headfirst over the barrier. As he fell, the patron threw the empty plastic cup, striking him in the head. Mayor Hanson reacted by forcefully shoving the female patron with both hands. The force of the shove propelled the woman across the patio and directly into a coworker, pushing both of them hard into the building's exterior wall with enough velocity that the lower half of a window pane was knocked completely out of its tracks. 

A detailed view of the exterior fence line partition where the physical brawl broke out, and where the lower half of the window pane was forcefully displaced from its tracks during the struggle.

The chronological accounts outline a specific sequence of physical actions taken by Officer Benjamin Freet and Officer Dwayne Lewis as the confrontation outside boiled over:

• Officer Benjamin Freet lunged over the patio furniture: Immediately upon scrambling back to his feet from his fall, Officer Benjamin Freet charged directly at a male bar employee who was standing nearby with his hands raised in an open, non-aggressive posture. Witnesses noted Officer Benjamin Freet immediately grabbed the employee around his neck with both hands, wrestling with him until they collapsed onto the pavement. 

• Officer Dwayne Lewis crossed the fence line to assault the employee: Seeing his colleague pinned on the ground, Officer Dwayne Lewis stepped over the barrier to intervene. Leaning over the fallen chairs, Officer Dwayne Lewis struck the pinned employee three times with his closed fists. 

  
  

• Officer Dwayne Lewis applied a rear-naked chokehold: Following the strikes, Officer Dwayne Lewis wrapped his arm tightly around the employee's neck, executing a rear-naked chokehold. Witnesses described Officer Dwayne Lewis lifting the employee off the ground by his throat, dangling his body over the fence line while his face turned red and purple from a lack of oxygen. 

• Officer Benjamin Freet struck a female bartender: As a female bartender rushed forward attempting to break the chokehold and free her brother, Officer Benjamin Freet intervened, striking her on the right side of her face and ear with a heavy blow. 

• Officer Dwayne Lewis maintained a grappling struggle: A large male patron intervened, vaulting the gate to pull Officer Dwayne Lewis off the employee. Restrained from behind, Officer Dwayne Lewis maintained a strong grip and continued wrestling with the patron until his wrists were pinned against the railing, finally forcing him to release the chokehold. 

• Officer Benjamin Freet pulled the Mayor from the vehicle: After the initial patio brawl broke up, Mayor Hanson climbed over the fence and entered the group's blue Chevrolet SUV to physically attack Officer Benjamin Freet's spouse. Officer Benjamin Freet rushed to the open passenger cab, grabbed Mayor Hanson around her waist, and physically hoisted her out of the vehicle toward the rear parking lot pavement. 

• Officer Benjamin Freet executed a physical takedown on the Mayor: As Mayor Hanson pulled herself up and attempted to lunge at the spouse once more in the open lot, Officer Benjamin Freet executed what he later described as a physical takedown, sweeping the Mayor's leg out from under her to bring her to the asphalt. 

• Officer Benjamin Freet choked the Mayor unconscious: Once on the ground, Officer Benjamin Freet slid behind Mayor Hanson's body and tightly wrapped his arm around her throat in a modified rear-naked chokehold. Witnesses described the Mayor frantically clawing at the officer's arm until her movements ceased, her body went completely limp, and she lost consciousness, at which point he released the grip. 

Officer Benjamin Freet slid out from behind the Mayor, and Hanson rolled onto her stomach, lying face down and unresponsive on the parking lot asphalt. Bystanders began screaming in panic. Despite the severity of an unconscious public official lying on the ground, the surrounding crowd continued to aggressively posture and argue over her motionless body. 

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Surveillance logs indicate that Mayor Hanson's feet remained completely motionless for approximately 60 seconds. Officer Benjamin Freet then quietly approached an acquaintance, instructing her to scan the crowd and make sure that nobody was recording the incident on their cellular phones to protect the situation. 

Frantic 911 calls hit the emergency dispatch center, with logs noting the incoming comments: "Winfield PD and the Mayor are in a fight - All intoxicated... Nicole is unconcsious on the ground.". Moments later, a secondary log note indicates that Hanson was finally being helped back to her feet by bar employees: "She is back on her feet... female is up now and no longer needs medics.". 

Uniformed patrol deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office arrived on scene shortly before midnight. The involved citizens retreated inside the building, while responding deputies focused on dispersing the crowds and separating the factions. No immediate arrests were executed that night, but the physical damage across the parties was severe, leaving multiple individuals with fractures, severe facial contusions, throat trauma, and full-body bruising. 

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The midnight brawl sparked a massive investigation by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division, uncovering a web of conflicting statements and severe workplace fallout. 

CONTINUE TO PART 2: CLICK HERE TO READ 'BEHIND CLOSED DOORS'

Part 2 is available now for early access subscribers. To unlock the behind-the-scenes breakdown of the City Hall investigation, the special prosecutor's decision, and the leaked text messages that preceded staff terminations, upgrade to a premium subscription today.

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