Nicholas Gutierrez (Jail photo)

BELLMEAD (December 5, 2012)-- Nicholas Gutierrez, 24, was in the McLennan County Jail Wednesday in lieu of bonds totaling $21,000, charged with assault by strangulation and injury to a child in connection with an attack on his girlfriend and her two sons.

He’s also held on a warrant issued in Lubbock County for criminal mischief.

Bellmead police arrested Gutierrez early Tuesday morning.

Bellmead police Detective Michael Miller said officers were sent at around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday to an home in the 1100 block of Fisher Street where they found a woman and her 12- and 15-year-old sons who had been assaulted.

Miller said the attacker fled before police arrived.

The woman told officers her boyfriend choked her said her 12-year-old son was also choked and then pushed into a coffee table when he tried to intervene.

Her 15-year-old son then produced a knife and cut the attacker on the cheek as the two struggled and fell to the floor, Miller said.

Gutierrez was later arrested in the area and taken to a local hospital for treatment of a laceration on his face.

After treatment he was taken to county jail where he was booked on the charges.