A social services worker is scheduled to appear in court next month after she kicked a disabled client, pulled his hair and shoved him to the floor of a pharmacy, police said Wednesday.
Danielle Joy Zoldak, 50, of Whippoorwill Hollow Road in East Hampton, also had marijuana in her purse, police said. She was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree assault on a disabled person, breach of peace, possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to police, an officer was sent to Walgreens, 311 East Main St., about 11:30 a.m. Friday on a report of an assault on someone who appeared to have a disability. An employee directed the officer to a woman, later identified as Zoldak, and a man. The man, who was sitting on the floor near the cash register, kept taking candy bars off the shelves and eating them, police said.
Zoldak told the officer she was the person’s caretaker and an employee of New Beginnings for Life in Colchester. As they talked, the man continued to grab more candy bars, and Zoldak responded by slapping his hand, police said. The officer tried talking to the man, but he was unable to communicate.
The officer looked at the surveillance video of the earlier incident and it showed Zoldak kicking and pushing the man and pulling his hair, police said. At one point, she put his head under her arm before shoving him to the floor, police said.
Three people saw the assault, and employees told the officer they had pleaded for Zoldak to stop hitting the man, police said.
The officer arrested Zoldak, and as he was bringing her to the police station he smelled marijuana, and once at the police department, he found marijuana in a plastic bag and a smoking pipe in her purse, police said.
Zoldak was released on a promise to appear in Superior Court in Middletown on July 7.
Her status with the agency, which helps disabled people get jobs and live on their own, wasn’t clear Wednesday morning. Calls and emails to the organization were not returned by mid-afternoon.
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New Beginnings for Life is a contractor for the state Department of Developmental Services.
