Crime
Court filings suggest the brothers may have confused the alleged victim with another man who had engaged in a verbal altercation with their father days prior.
July 8, 2026 | 4:36 PM
2 minutes to read
Two Holbrook town employees are facing felony assault charges after they allegedly attacked a homeless man as he slept in his tent last month, leaving him with numerous cuts and broken bones.
Brothers Jesse Baxter, 32, and Jake Baxter, 28, are due for arraignment in Quincy District Court Thursday on charges stemming from the alleged assault, which occurred June 13 near Brookville Park. Both men work for the town’s Department of Public Works, court records show.
Holbrook police responded to a home on Linwood Street shortly before 12:30 a.m. for reports of a shirtless man screaming and banging on front doors in the neighborhood, according to a police report filed in court. When officers caught up with the man, they saw he was bloodied and covered in scratches and cuts, the report states. His tent, set up at the nearby park, “appeared destroyed and/or rummaged through,” police noted.
The man told officers he had been sleeping in his tent when he awoke to the sound of someone approaching. He alleged two men began to attack him, chasing him into a parking lot where they knocked him to the ground and kicked him repeatedly.
In the light of the parking lot, however, the alleged assailants got a good look at the man’s face “and appeared confused as to who he was,” ultimately fleeing on foot, the report states. The man told police he suspected the pair had confused him with another homeless man who lives in the area.
Officers later learned the other man purportedly hurled anti-gay insults at the Baxters’ father — also a Holbrook DPW employee — during a verbal altercation two days prior.
According to the report, police used vehicle information and Flock Safety cameras to place Jesse Baxter’s car in the vicinity of the alleged assault.
Jesse Baxter allegedly told police he and his brother were out on a midnight run on the 13th when an unnamed man chased after them while carrying rocks, prompting Jake Baxter to tackle the man.
An attorney for Jake Baxter was not reachable for comment Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether Jesse Baxter had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The alleged victim was treated for a concussion, broken collar bone, broken toe, broken nose, broken orbital, and various cuts and scrapes, according to the police report. He has a history of “significant mental health challenges,” Holbrook Police Chief David Del Papa said in a statement.
“This incident has been of great concern to the Holbrook Police Department and Town officials because it involved an individual who was particularly vulnerable due to his mental health condition and the circumstances surrounding the reported battery,” Del Papa said. “Every member of our community deserves to be treated with dignity, respect, and compassion, regardless of their housing status or mental health challenges.”
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
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