{"id":381963,"date":"2026-07-22T04:52:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/381963\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T04:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:52:24","slug":"suspect-in-2-brutal-attacks-completed-mental-health-diversion-program-before-arrest-records-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/381963\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect in 2 brutal attacks completed mental health diversion program before arrest, records show"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A man accused of carrying out two violent attacks less than an hour apart last week had a previous violent charge dismissed after completing a mental health diversion program just five months ago, according to court records.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS REPORT: Victim brain dead, another critically hurt after suspect attacked them with metal pipe, docs allege<\/a><\/p>\n

Joshua McDaniel, 28, is in jail on two felony assault charges after investigators say he brutally attacked two men Friday morning in separate incidents about a mile apart along State Highway 249 in northwest Harris County. Both victims remain hospitalized in critical condition, and authorities say the charges could be upgraded if either victim dies.<\/p>\n

Newly obtained surveillance video captures one of the attacks. The footage shows a man, identified by family as Nhan Le, confronted by the suspect near a dumpster before being knocked to the ground.<\/p>\n

The second attack happened less than an hour earlier at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts, where employees told ABC13 they watched in horror as another man was beaten with a metal pipe and left critically injured.<\/p>\n

“I said this guy might be dead because his face was real pale and he was bleeding a lot,” one employee recalled.<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL REPORT: Man involved in 2 separate attacks that critically injured victims in NW Harris County, HCSO says<\/a><\/p>\n

Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies quickly identified and arrested McDaniel.<\/p>\n

Court records show McDaniel has a lengthy criminal history that includes violent convictions and 16 previous criminal charges. Among them was a case dismissed in February after he was referred to a mental health diversion program. According to court records, that case involved allegations that McDaniel punched an elderly man.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys told ABC13 it is not easy to qualify for a mental health diversion program, and that successfully completing it generally indicates a defendant complied with court-ordered treatment and other program requirements.<\/p>\n

Family members of Nhan Le say they were shocked to learn McDaniel had previously completed the diversion program and had a violent charge dismissed. Le’s cousin described the situation as “real bad.”<\/p>\n

According to court records, Le has been declared brain dead, while the second victim remains in critical condition.<\/p>\n

McDaniel did not appear in court over the weekend after a bailiff said he was combative.<\/p>\n

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has not responded to ABC13’s questions about the dismissal of McDaniel’s previous case or the mental health diversion program.<\/p>\n

His previous attorney said she was unaware of the outcome once McDaniel was referred to treatment.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A man accused of carrying out two violent attacks less than an hour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[134867,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-381963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-134867","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}