High school coach chokes girlfriend in fight over ‘questionable’ texts, Texas cops say

A Texas high school’s head football coach resigned following his recent arrest after he was accused of choking his girlfriend in a parking lot, according to police and news outlets.

Michael Anthony Gonzales of Weslaco was booked Sept. 16 on a charge of assaulting a family member and impeding breathing, jail records show.

Gonzales was the head football coach at Donna High School, KVEO reported.

According to court records, an officer with the Weslaco Police Department was patrolling a business plaza at about 3 a.m. and encountered Gonzales and the woman outside a Dollar Tree store, KRGV reported. Gonzales was with his girlfriend and they had been arguing over “questionable” texts she discovered on his phone, and he became violent, the station said, citing a criminal complaint.

Police said he had pushed her, shoved her head into a car door, repeatedly hit her, and “strangled her a series of times,” MyRGV.com reported.

Gonzales’ eyes were bloodshot, his speech slurred and his movement unsteady, according to the officer, who described the coach as “highly intoxicated,” stations reported.

Gonzales and his girlfriend had been together for seven years, she told police, MyRGV.com reported.

Following his arrest and the accusations against him, Gonzales resigned from Donna High School, district officials told KVEO.

“District policy prohibits us from releasing specific details regarding the individual involved,” Donna ISD told the station. “However, we can confirm that Mr. Gonzales tendered his resignation and it was promptly accepted.”

Donna is a roughly 250-mile drive south from San Antonio.

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