Man arrested on warrant for alleged assault of his girlfriend

A local man was arrested Monday afternoon on a felony warrant alleging he assaulted and choked his girlfriend to the point where she lost consciousness last month.

Nathaniel Adam Gibson, 45, of 1204 Central Avenue, was arrested at his home around 5:45 p.m. He is charged with aggravated assault, which is punishable by up to six years in prison.

Gibson, who has no local criminal record, was later released on $2,500 bail and is scheduled to appear in Garland County District Court on July 5.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Hot Springs police spoke with a woman shortly before 5 p.m. on May 5 about an alleged assault that had occurred shortly before.

She stated that her boyfriend of six months, identified as Gibson, came home that afternoon and she immediately noticed that he was drunk. She stated that when Gibson is drunk, he is “usually physically violent.”

When Gibson came in, she said she got up and went to the bathroom to get ready to leave. She said Gibson came into the house “upset,” so “she knew she had to leave before he got physical,” then he came into the bathroom and put her in a chokehold, “immediately applying pressure.”

She claims she lost consciousness and “that was the last thing she remembered.” She said when she woke up, Gibson no longer had her in a chokehold, but was holding her down “to prevent her from falling to the ground.”

When she asked him what happened, he told her, “I just loved you.”

After the incident, she fled the apartment and got into her car. Gibson reportedly followed her to the car and confronted her when she locked herself inside. At that point, Gibson left the scene and called police.

Under Arkansas law, aggravated assault is a Class D felony if the offender “obstructs or prevents the breathing or circulation of another person by applying pressure to the chest, throat, or neck or by blocking the other person’s nose or mouth.”