An Arizona father was charged with attempted murder after allegedly livestreaming his attack on a Department of Child Safety (DCS) worker.
De’Andre Terrell Johnson, 32, was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of unlawful flight, according to the Mesa Police Department.
The attack occurred around 5 p.m. Monday, when the department received 911 calls from witnesses in the lobby of the Mesa Tower located near Alma School Road and Southern Avenue, which houses a DCS branch, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The altercation was preceded by an hour-long meeting between Johnson and the DCS employee, during which the two men discussed serious allegations made against Johnson in the open custody case against him. Johnson, who livestreamed the entire meeting, repeatedly asked the worker to introduce himself to viewers.
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As the two stood up at the end of their meeting, Johnson asked if the worker would “dap him up.” When the other man leaned in, Johnson grabbed him in a chokehold.
“You’re a dead man,” Johnson repeatedly told the worker. Investigators said the victim was held in a chokehold for about two minutes and thirty seconds.
At the scene, officers found the DCS worker on the ground with “obvious injuries” to his face. Witnesses said Johnson choked him twice, and video of the incident shows the drooling victim’s eyes bulging and arm muscles tensing as he’s strangled in a chokehold.
The caseworker was in an “altered state of consciousness” when he was taken to an area hospital, according to court documents.
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“Go ahead, call the cops,” Johnson told shocked onlookers after dropping the unresponsive victim face-first onto the tile floor. “I’ll be waiting.”
“Anybody else think it’s OK to take little girls in a room?” Johnson said, breathing heavily and looking into the camera.
“You still breathing?” Johnson asked the unresponsive worker. “He’s still breathing. I didn’t make my f—— point.”
According to court documents, Johnson then wrapped his arm around the man’s neck again. Footage shows bystanders yelling at him to let go. He changed the angle of the camera multiple times to ensure that the attack was caught on video, thrusting the victim’s face into frame.
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“You made your point,” one bystander told Johnson, to which he replied, “No I didn’t.”
Johnson then stood up, turned off the livestream and left the building.
When police tracked Johnson down in nearby Scottsdale three hours later, he refused to stop and sped away, they said. Mesa Police attempted to use a grappler net on Johnson’s vehicle, but he continued driving and broke the apparatus. After attempting multiple PIT (Precision Immbolization Technique) maneuvers to try to stop his car, officers were able to take the 32-year-old into custody.
The victim later told police he had spoken to Johnson about his daughter a week prior to the attack.
“I came here to kill you; you’re lucky my daughter vouched for you,” Johnson allegedly told the worker, who was able to calm him down.
The worker told police he felt Johnson was “being aggressive” throughout their meeting on Monday. When Johnson began to choke him, the victim said, he realized that “he just wants to kill me” and told police there was “no other reason” for the father’s behavior.
The victim’s doctor told police his injuries were “absolutely serious” and that the man “almost died,” according to court documents.
Johnson is being held on $500,000 cash bond.
In a statement to 12News, a DCS spokesperson said the agency is “conducting a comprehensive review of this incident in an effort to prevent it from happening again.”
“Yesterday one of our specialists was assaulted in an unprovoked attack and horrific manner by a parent at our Tempe/Gilbert field office,” the spokesperson told the outlet. “Although no weapon was used, the attack was severe enough that our specialist had to be taken by ambulance for medical treatment. … 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.”
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