Torey Geile arrested after punching man who was trying to stop Geile's Rhodesian Ridgebacks from attacking old Labrador

FLORIDA -- The man who broke the jaw of popular South Walton pastor Tom Guido with a punch to the face has been charged with felony battery.

County Judge David Green signed a warrant late Tuesday afternoon for the arrest of Torey Geile, according to Greg Anchors, chief assistant state attorney for Walton County.

Geile, a roofing contractor and engineer with Destin Roofing Inc., had retained counsel and turned himself in at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to an official at the Walton County Jail. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday prior to being placed into custody.

Green had waited a full week before signing the arrest warrant. He wanted to know Guido was willing to proceed with pressing charges, Anchors said.

As the case hung in limbo, a handful of residents of the subdivision where the pastor and Geile’s family walk their dogs called the Daily News to express concerns about the incident that led ultimately to the arrest.

All of them said Geile was the clear aggressor in the dog fight dispute that resulted in a single devastating punch being thrown to Guido’s face.

Both Anchors and Sheriff Michael Adkinson said Wednesday it was clear to them by the time the warrant was actually signed that charges against Geile were justified.

“Whatever explanation he had for hitting (Guido), he wasn’t justified under the circumstances,” Anchors said.

Guido, pastor of Resurrection Catholic Church in Miramar Beach, and neighbor Edward Fincke were walking their dogs early Dec. 19 when two big dogs, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, belonging to the Geiles ran up on them.

Geile’s wife had been walking the dogs and they got loose when she let go of their leashes, reports said.

The woman and Guido were trying to pull the Ridgebacks off the pastor’s aging Labrador Retriever when Geile ran up and delivered what was described by one witness as a “haymaker.”

Guido told a 911 dispatcher after the punch was thrown that he’d been “cold cocked.”

“While there was a high level of confusion, we do not believe Mr. Geile used prudent judgment given the totality of the circumstances,” Adkinson said Wednesday. “We believe there was sufficient time for him to slow down and make a better decision.”

Guido suffered a broken jaw severe enough that he had to be hospitalized.

(NWF Daily News - Dec 30, 2015)