Another Advantage employee attacked on the job

Devin Joseph Jackson

By Joe Johnson

An employee was attacked this week at a facility operated by Advantage Behavioral Health Systems on Mitchell Bridge Road.

The assault comes months after an employee was assaulted and nearly killed at a different ABHS facility on North Avenue.

The latest incident happened at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at the nonprofit agency’s Crisis Center Stabilization Unit when 43-year-old Melinda Robertson was making her rounds of patients when Devin Jackson reportedly grabbed her by the throat, slammed her to the floor, and choked her to the point of passing out.

After Jackson was subdued by staff and the injured employee was taken away in an ambulance, Jackson attempted to leave and attacked a security guard, hitting his face and slamming him into a chair.

When police arrived Jackson, 23, of Covington, was arrested for aggravated assault, battery, and simple battery and transported to the county jail, where he is held without bail being set.

The Mitchell Bridge Road facility provides crisis stabilization and observation for determining next steps in mental health treatment for patients.

The previous incident at an Advantage facility happened in June at its Day Service Center for the homeless on North Avenue, where a client attacked a supervisor after being reprimanded for bringing alcohol onto the premises.

Cedric Jones repeatedly struck Chris Sullens in the face and head with a machete.

The ABHS employee was flown in critical condition to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where he received life-saving treatment but had an eye surgically removed.