Seabrook man held on bail after attacks on Anna Jaques Hospital security guards
ANDOVER MA Jan 28 2021— Police said a man who attacked two security guards at Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport on Jan. 15 was held on $2,500 cash bail and is being evaluated for mental competency and criminal responsibility after he was arrested last weekend.
On Jan. 15, Newburyport police officer Kevin Martin issued an arrest warrant for Xhoi Docnoka, 26, of Seabrook, charging him with attacking the security guards after he was involuntarily committed under Section 12.
Section 12 of Massachusetts law allows the emergency restraint and hospitalization of a person who poses a risk of violence due to mental illness.
Hospital security supervisor Al Zabriskie said Docnoka — who has a history of substance abuse problems — had been “aggressive and violent with staff because they were not giving him medication he was demanding,” according to a police report.
Zabriskie said Docnoka “balled up his fists” after security officer Steve Brown asked him to sit down on his bed and leave his face mask on, the police report said.
Docnoka then began swinging at both security guards, punching Brown in the nose and hitting Zabriskie in the ribs, the report said.
During the confrontation, Zabriskie’s radio was broken, the report said.
Docnoka was eventually subdued by hospital staff members who placed him in restraints and medicated him “in an effort to calm him down and stop further aggression,” the report said.
In the report, Martin said Newburyport police “are very familiar with this subject.”
Since Dec. 31, officers from the department had “dealt with” Docnoka 11 times, the report said.
“Every radio call the officers were sent on had to do with the subject’s level of alcohol and/or drug intoxication (whether it was a welfare check or other disturbance),” Martin wrote in the report.
The report said Docnoka has a long history of arrests, including charges of assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and destruction of property.
The hospital staff reported that Docnoka was in the emergency room multiple times in recent weeks due to his “dependence and demand for medication.”
Police charged Docnoka with two counts of assault and battery on a public employee and one count of malicious destruction of property under $12,000, and issued a warrant for his arrest, but he was not arrested until after his release from the hospital.
Docnoka was arrested Sunday at 7:48 a.m. in Andover after a resident complained to police that Docnoka was sitting in his car for a long time outside a home on Jenkins Road.
Docnoka was arraigned Monday in Newburyport District Court, where he was held on $2,500 cash bail. He is also being evaluated for competency and criminal responsibility at Worcester Recovery, according to the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
Docnoka is scheduled to appear in Newburyport District Court again Feb. 12.
