Idaho Falls man arrested after allegedly hitting man in the head with baseball bat in fight over guns

IDAHO FALLS – A 27-year-old Idaho Falls man was arrested Sunday night after he allegedly hit another man in the head after being refused access to his guns.

Augustus Wyatt Gokey was charged with one felony count of aggravated assault causing great bodily harm. If he is found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison.

According to court documents, on Sunday around 10:30 p.m., an Idaho Falls Police officer responded to a report of a man being hit in the head with a baseball bat.

The document states that due to the nature of the call, the officer activated the patrol car’s emergency lights and sirens to get to the home as quickly as possible.

The officer reported that at the property, a man was seen through the window with a “large laceration to the left side of his forehead.”

The document states that the wounded man signaled the officer into the home. Once inside, the officer yelled, “Police!” and another man came out of the kitchen.

The man was later identified as Gokey. The officer reported that Gokey was “immediately agitated and appeared to be under the influence of something due to his large pupil size and profuse sweating.”

The officer asked Gokey if he had any weapons on him, and he responded he did not. The officer patted him down and found no weapons. He was later placed in handcuffs.

The officer spoke with the man who was hit, who was “bleeding pretty badly,” and when the officer asked if he needed any medical attention, he denied it.

Another officer arrived and began treating the wounded man, and the first officer spoke with Gokey.

Gokey told the officer that he’d been going through a lot, which involved “an ex-girlfriend having a child and that there were 30 men after him that he was afraid of.”

The officer asked who these men were, but Gokey told him he’d never tell.

When the officer asked him what happened at the home, Gokey said he was there to pick up a shotgun that he had stored at a safe, as he did not feel safe at his home.

Gokey told the officer the other man told him he could not have the gun and that the other man allegedly attacked him and pushed him away from the safe.

The officer asked how the other man got hurt, and Gokey said when he pushed the man off him, he fell and hit his head on a rowing machine in the basement near the safe.

When questioned about the baseball bat, Gokey said he brought it for protection and denied ever hitting the other man with it.

The officer said that during the interview with Gokey that he appeared to become irate and yell about things other things and had an odor of alcohol coming from him.

Gokey was later placed in the patrol car after he refused to calm down.

While being placed in the backseat of the patrol car, the officer asked Gokey if he had been using any drugs. Gokey replied he wasn’t and that he’d been clean for years, though he said he’d used heroin and fentanyl in the past.

The other officer who helped the wounded man told the first officer his side of the incident.

According to the man, Gokey came to the victim’s home to pick up a gun and had the baseball bat.

The victim refused to give the firearm to Gokey due to “his mental and physical state he was in, because he did not want anyone to get hurt.”

After the refusal, the man said Gokey had grabbed a grinder tool and was trying to get into the safe with it. The man told him to stop, and that’s when he said Gokey grabbed the bat.

Gokey waved the bat around in a motion, making it appear as if he was going to hit the man. The two then got into a scuffle over the bat, and at one point, he allegedly hit the victim in the forehead.

The document states there was blood on the barrel and the handle of the bat. The bat itself was taken as evidence.

Gokey is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before 7th Judicial District Magistrate Judge Stephen Clark at 1 p.m. on March 28.

Though Gokey has been charged with these crimes, this does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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