Update: This story has been updated to reflect that the charges against Anthony Gaylor were dropped as of Feb. 12, 2020.
Gainesville Police arrested a man Thursday night for an alleged drunken assault that occurred earlier in May.
Anthony Gaylor went out to celebrate his 21st birthday May 5. According to the GPD report, Gaylor was intoxicated by the time he went back home, where he lived with his roommate.
At around 9 p.m., Gaylor started knocking on his roommate’s door, asking for help. When his roommate opened the door, he began apologizing profusely for something that happened previously. Gaylor and his roommate reportedly had a history of not getting along and started avoiding each other in August 2017.
According to the arrest report, Gaylor kept asking for help but never said what he needed. Instead, Gaylor continued to hug his roommate without his permission. He then allegedly started rubbing his roommate’s genitals outside of his clothing and entered his bedroom without consent.
His roommate reportedly recorded a video showing Gaylor pushing him onto his bed before passing out on top of him. At some point, the roommate pushed him off and went to the kitchen to get Gaylor water. Gaylor followed him, according to the report.
In the kitchen, Gaylor allegedly pulled out a fork and held it under his roommate’s chin with force, telling his roommate he should kill himself.
He then grabbed a large knife from the knife block and held it to his roommate’s temple, according to the report. He told him again that he should kill himself.
Gaylor reportedly pressed the knife into his roommate’s temple enough to cause a small cut and some bleeding.
The victim pushed Gaylor away and ran to the front door. Gaylor slammed the door shut and locked it. According to the report, he then pushed his roommate onto a couch and held his arms down.
Gaylor allegedly used his left hand to choke the victim until he was unable to breathe. Eventually, after a struggle, the victim was able to get him off and run to lock himself in his bedroom.
Almost three weeks later, on Thursday night, GPD arrested Gaylor for the incident.
According to the report, Gaylor later told police that he did drink that night, but he doesn’t remember anything past trying to hug his roommate.
He is currently being held at Alachua County Jail on charges of aggravated battery and false imprisonment.
Follow Jessica Curbelo on Twitter @jesscurbelo and contact her at jcurbelo@alligator.org.
