Man Charged After Choking Girlfriend

One man was arrested Monday night after an altercation that resulted in an assault charge. The victim told police that her boyfriend, 34 year old Christopher McFalls, had been drinking and was trying to take her daughter’s piggy bank to use it to buy more alcohol. She stated that when she told him he could not take that money, he flicked a lit cigarette in her face and punched her in the back of the head. When she tried to call 911, he ripped the phone from her hands, throwing it into the neighbor’s yard. The victim says it was when she went to retrieve her phone, that McFalls grabbed her by the neck with both hands and began to choke her, leaving marks on her neck for police to see. McFalls then fled the residence. The Cocke County Sheriff’s office was contacted a short time later that McFalls was at the True Gospel Church on Old Asheville Hwy. He was taken into custody without incident and has been charged with aggravated assault and interference with an emergency call.