Craig Pastor Chokes Son, Gets Probation in Moffat County

Did a Craig pastor really choke his own son, or was it just a dad being a dad?

The short version: He choked him. And he got caught in the act.

Parrish Terry, a local pastor, was sentenced last week in Moffat County Court. He walked away with three years of supervised probation, 100 hours of community service, and a 90-day suspended jail sentence. If he plays nice, he won’t spend a single night in jail.

But the facts on the ground tell a different story than the press release might suggest.

The incident happened on June 15, 2025. Terry assaulted and strangled his juvenile son. It wasn’t a minor scuffle. It was a chase. It was violence.

The arrest affidavit paints a violent picture. Terry tried to grab his son by the side. The boy slapped the hand away. He didn’t like being touched there. Terry chased him.

"At first, he thought it was play fighting, but then got scared," the boy told police. He locked himself in a room. Terry pounded on the door. When the boy opened it, Terry grabbed him by the ears. Then the throat. He lifted him up.

He pushed him against the wall. The boy hit his head.

The physical evidence didn’t lie. A Craig police officer saw light red marks on the boy’s neck. He saw fingernail marks. The boy took photos. He had a lump on the back of his head. He had a headache. He couldn’t breathe properly when Terry strangled him.

Terry, however, told police it was a lie.

He seemed apprehensive at first. Then agitated. "I told you nothing happened," he said. He claimed the boy "lies a lot and is troubled." He told officers to look closely at the neck marks and decide if they were self-inflicted. He said the boy "swung and hit" him.

The court found him guilty of one count of felony assault in the second degree and misdemeanor assault in the second degree in March.

That’s the legal outcome. Here’s the local reality.

Terry is still a pastor. He’s still in Craig. He’s still walking the same streets as the rest of us. He gets probation. He gets community service. He doesn’t get jail time unless he screws up.

Make no mistake: this wasn’t a slap on the wrist. It was a specific punishment for a specific act of violence against a child in his own home. But it raises a question worth asking. Why did the boy lock himself in a room? Why did he have to be chased down? Why did it take a police officer seeing the marks to confirm what the boy already knew?

Terry claimed it was play fighting at first. Then it became a chase. Then it became strangulation. The shift from "play" to "violence" happened in seconds. The boy knew it. Terry knew it. The police knew it.

The community now knows it.

Terry’s sentence is suspended. That means the jail time is hanging over his head like a sword. If he completes the probation, he walks free. If he doesn’t, he goes in.

It’s a gamble. A local family is betting on him. The rest of us are watching.

The affidavit notes the boy’s fear. The "scared" look. The locked door. The pounding. It’s a classic domestic escalation. It starts with a grab. It ends with a choke.

Terry told police the marks were self-inflicted. He told police the boy was troubled. He told police nothing happened.

He was wrong.

The marks were there. The testimony was clear. The verdict was guilty.

Now, we wait to see if three years of probation is enough to keep the violence from returning. Or if it’s just a delay tactic.

The boy is still in Craig. Terry is still a pastor. The marks on the neck have faded, but the record remains.

That’s the story. No fluff. Just the facts.