Brown was arrested on Wednesday by officers with the Saratoga Springs Police Department and appeared in front of a judge on Thursday morning, according to WRGB. In a statement sent to Newsweek, Saratoga Springs police said that on Wednesday, officers took a report “regarding an incident that occurred involving Chad Brown, age 43, and an acquaintance known to him.

“Upon investigation of the alleged complaint by members of the Patrol Division, Mr. Brown was arrested and subsequently charged with violating New York State Penal Law Criminal Obstruction of Breathing, a Class A Misdemeanor.”

WNYT reported that a complaint filed against Brown accuses him assaulting a woman in his home. The complaint says that Brown allegedly pushed a woman down the stairs and attempted to choke her, WNYT reported.

While appearing before a judge on Thursday morning, Brown’s lawyers disputed the allegations and said that the horse trainer’s home was broken into, according to WNYT. However, Judge Francine Vero, who was overseeing the case, decided against Brown and said, “This court is not in the business of accusing domestic violence victims.”

Subrina Dhammi of WNYT wrote on Twitter that Vero further said that “the alleged victim was pushed down the stairs and choked.”

In an earlier tweet from Dhammi, Brown can be seen appearing before the judge. A subsequent tweet from the local news station reporter shows Brown walking out of the courtroom after the judge announced the charges.

“Bail set for $2,500 cash $5,000 bond,” Dhammi wrote as the caption to the video.

Newsweek reached out to the Saratoga Springs Police Department for further information on the arrest and accusations.

Brown is widely known as a horse trainer from Mechanicville, New York, and his horse Early Voting won the Preakness Stakes in May in Baltimore, Maryland. He also won the Preakness in 2017 with Cloud Computing.

“He got his first experience around horses during high school working with Standardbred trainer Paul Kelley at Saratoga Raceway. While he was a student at Cornell University, where he was headed toward a career as a veterinarian,” his bio on America’s Best Racing says. “Brown ran his first horse in the Kentucky Derby in 2013 and finished a good fourth with Normandy Invasion.”

Brown won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding trainer four consecutive years beginning in 2016.

“In 2022, Brown picked up his second win in a Triple Crown race when Early Voting, owned by Cloud Computing’s co-owner Klaravich Stables, took the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. His Zandon had finished third in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve two weeks prior,” the bio said.

In addition to the charges on Thursday, the Albany Times Union reported that Brown faced legal trouble in 2019. The U.S. Department of Labor said in a press release that an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Brown failed to pay overtime wages to employees.

“Chad Brown will pay a total of $1,617,673 in back wages, liquidated damages, and civil penalties for willful violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the labor provisions of the H-2B non-immigrant visa program,” the press release said.

Update 8/19/22, 12:20 p.m. ET: This story was updated with further a statement from the Saratoga Springs Police Department.