A Macon man has been charged with felony child abuse after his son told police his father choked him at his home, according to a complaint filed in Macon County Circuit Court.
Jimmy Dale Williams was charged July 1 with abuse or neglect of a child, a class D felony. Macon County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Meisner alleges that on or about June 30, 2026, Williams, who was 18 or older, knowingly caused a child under the age of 18 to suffer physical injury by choking him.
According to a probable cause statement by Sgt. Andre Williams of the Macon Police Department, officers responded the evening of June 30 after the boy called his mother to come pick him up from his father’s residence. The child told police that while he was sitting in a chair watching television, his father was speaking to him, and when the boy did not respond, his father began choking him. The boy said that at one point he could hardly breathe. His mother told police he was noticeably scared when she picked him up.
The officer wrote that when he made contact with Williams, Williams was visibly intoxicated, with a strong odor of intoxicants and slurred, mumbled speech.
The class D felony carries a range of punishment of one to seven years in prison, up to a year in county jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or a combination of a fine and imprisonment.
A criminal charge is an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.