MOUTHCARD, Ky. — A Pike County man spent the holidays behind bars, after a Christmas Eve argument turned into an alleged assault with an axe handle.

A state trooper responded to a 911 hangup call at a home on South Levisa Fork Road, at Mouthcard.

When he arrived, he found a woman with a cut on her thumb and a gash on her head.

Witnesses told the officer that 26-year-old Austin Phillips had been arguing with the woman, when he allegedly cut her thumb, punched her in the head, then got an axe handle from the garage and hit her over the head with it.

When the trooper tried to ID Phillips, he allegedly ran out of the house.

He was arrested after another trooper arrived.

He was arrested and charged with felony assault, fleeing police, resisting arrest and public intoxication, as well as outstanding warrants for wanton endangerment.

He remains in the Pike County Detention Center.