Hutchinson ? A dare from friends led a Hutchinson Community College student to tackle two costumed mascots after a basketball game, police said.

Nathaniel Winston, 18, is charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery and is free on $1,000 bond pending an appearance Friday in Municipal Court.

The alleged attacks happened Saturday after a game between Hutchinson and Colby.

The mascots a bear played by Gerald Devine, 39, of Hutchinson, and an orange-headed boy played by Devine’s son Jeremy, 14 were walking in a hallway at the Hutchinson Sports Arena when Winston attempted to tackle the elder Devine, Police Sgt. Lee Fesler said.

When Devine was able to fight him off, Fesler said, Winston rushed Jeremy Devine pushing several children aside in the process and slammed the teen-ager to the floor.

The younger Devine refused treatment for chest and leg injuries, Fesler said.

“The excuse he gave us for the first one was he thought it was a classmate,” Fesler said. “He never did explain the other one, though.”

Darrin Regier, who runs the Kirby Dazzler sports show for which the Devines perform, said his mascots previously had never been attacked.

“I just don’t understand why he did that,” said Regier, who organized the show last year as an offshoot of his Wiz Kids basketball performance group.

Regier’s daughter Caley was one of the children pushed aside when Winston tackled Jeremy Devine, Regier said. Caley identified Winston in a crowd of students leaving the game, and Regier grabbed Winston and took him to security.

The mascots will return for Sunday’s games.