Stratham man, 18, charged with Hampton Beach stabbing
HAMPTON — Police have arrested a Stratham 18-year-old man they say stabbed someone three times in an altercation at Hampton Beach.
Joseph James Davis, 18, was arrested Thursday Dec. 7 and charged with one count of felony second-degree assault and one count of breach of bail, a misdemeanor. Police say he stabbed another man with a knife on Ocean Boulevard Dec. 3, causing puncture wounds and piercing an artery.
At the time of the arrest, Davis was on bail from Rockingham Superior Court in Brentwood, where he was awaiting a hearing on a felony burglary charge related to an arrest from Seabrook police. That arrest took place in October, according to Seabrook police Lt. Timothy Mone.
Hampton police said Davis was taken into custody without incident and he is now being held without bail in Rockingham County jail. He was arraigned Friday afternoon in superior court where Judge Andrew Schulman handed down an order allowing Davis the opportunity to be evaluated for pretrial release. Davis was represented by New Hampshire public defender Deanna Campbell.
The program would allow Davis to be released with electronic monitoring, according to Schulman. He addressed Davis’s parents and explained that the program can include approval for work but is “very restrictive in terms of who they’ll let in.”
Rockingham Assistant County Attorney Jill Cook also requested a hearing be held for attorneys to discuss his entry into the program even after he receives approval.
“If he is appropriate – big ‘if’ – then it will come back to court,” Schulman said.
Hampton police reported to the area of High Street and Moulton Road in Hampton Dec. 3 at about 7:30 p.m. They say they arrived to find a young man in the car bleeding significantly from a leg wound caused by a laceration. Officers applied a tourniquet, according to Police Chief Alex Reno, and the person was transported by the Hampton Fire Department to a hospital.
Police said the people involved had dispersed. They determined no threat to the public existed following the incident.
Investigators have identified all of the parties involved and believe the stabbing occurred in an altercation between two groups of young adults who knew each other. One half of the group had pulled over in the High Street-Moulton Road area. The others fled to an unknown location, police said.
Reno said the group that went towards High Street was driving the victim to medical help. When they reached High Street they realized the seriousness of the wound and called the police for help, according to Reno.
Campbell could not be immediately reached for comment.
Hampton police ask anyone with information to call the department at 603-929-4444. Anonymous tips can be made through the Crimeline for the Hamptons at 603-929-1222.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Stratham man, 18, charged with Hampton Beach stabbing
