MESA, AZ — A DCS worker is out of the hospital after nearly getting strangled to death while working.
The suspect, identified as De’Andre Johnson, was arrested and is facing four charges including attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault.
The incident happened on Tuesday, November 5, at Mesa Tower, located near Southern Avenue and Alma School Road.
According to the Mesa Police Department, for two and a half minutes Johnson put the DCS worker in a chokehold.
The employee was working on a case involving Johnson’s daughter.
The crime was live-streamed on Johnson’s social media. ABC15 has reviewed the video which shows the victim interviewing Johnson for about an hour in the lobby of Mesa Tower.
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At one point the two discuss whether Johnson’s children have been physically abused or neglected, but the employee says he doesn’t expect the case to go much further.
Still… after the two are finished talking Johnson asks the DCS worker to “dap him.” The two fist bump and then Johnson attacks.
Johnson is heard saying the worker is a “dead man” multiple times.
In another of Johnson’s live streams reviewed by ABC15, he appears to be at his daughter’s school saying he wants to know why his daughter no longer wants to come to school after being interviewed in a school conference room.
He is heard saying on camera that school staff “don’t think it’s their job to tell me that my daughter is going into a room. Like this. With the door closed with a man and they can’t tell me what happened. And now my daughter don’t want to come back to school. We got issues. You going to get to know me today.”
Police told Johnson at the time that DCS does have the ability to interview his child.
According to court records, Johnson was found guilty in 2017 of aggravated assault.
DCS provided the following statement to ABC15 regarding the incident:
"On Tuesday, one of our specialists was assaulted in an unprovoked and horrific manner by a parent at our Tempe/Gilbert field office. This disturbing event occurred in the public lobby of the building, and although no weapon was used, the attack was severe enough that our specialist had to be taken by ambulance for medical treatment. Several witnesses were present, and the perpetrator has since been arrested. We are relieved that the specialist has been discharged from the hospital and is now at home recovering with family.
Our staff constantly perform difficult work under challenging circumstances, and they do so with the goal of strengthening families and ensuring Arizona children can thrive. The Department is committed to keeping our staff safe as they carry out this essential work, and we are conducting a comprehensive review of this incident in an effort to prevent it from happening again."
