Gray man charged with choking wife’s son to appear in court Tuesday

A Gray man facing one count of first-degree assault after Knox County Sheriff’s deputies say he severely choked his wife’s son is scheduled to appear in Knox District Court Tuesday to determine whether the case should be presented to a grand jury.

Deputies were called to a residence on Guinn Loop off of Arkle Road, east of South Ky. 233, at approximately midnight last Wednesday in response to a complaint that a man, identified as Phillip Gamino, 38, was drunk, destroying the house and assaulting the woman’s son.

“When the deputies arrived they were met outside by the caller, who advised that her husband was acting crazy and was armed and dangerous,” stated Deputy William Stewart, the department’s public affairs officer adding that deputies observed red marks on the male victim’s throat.

“He just about choked him out,” Stewart said of Gamino.

When deputies entered the residence, they discovered that Gamino had fled outside through a back door and into the nearby mountains.

Deputies later located Gamino and took him into custody, charging him with first-degree assault – domestic violence, alcohol intoxication, second-degree fleeing or evading police, terroristic threatening, menacing and resisting arrest.

Gamino was lodged in the Knox County Detention Center on a $50,000 cash bond.

Under Kentucky law, first-degree assault is a class B felony, carrying a potential prison sentence of 10 to 20 years.