Teen flips attacker during brawl over prom dress in Gwinnett, police say
A planned prom dress sale between former friends spiraled into a violent altercation at a Gwinnett gas station, with surveillance footage capturing the moment an 18-year-old victim flipped one of her attackers to the ground in self-defense.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Gwinnett County Police arrested three suspects following the Feb. 26 confrontation at the RaceTrac on Beaver Ruin Road near Norcross.
'It appears that all the individuals knew each other or had some familiarization with each other,' said Gwinnett County Cpl. Juan Madiedo.
According to police reports, the victim had agreed to meet her former friend, 20-year-old Morgan Flinchum, at the gas station to sell a prom dress. The dress had originally belonged to Flinchum, but the victim's mother had helped pay for it, per the police report. As part of the exchange, they went into the store's restroom so Flinchum could try it on.
TRENDING STORIES:
Ex-Atlanta Falcons linebacker sentenced for swindling victims out of $5.3 million in Ponzi scheme
Man 'allowed' 3-year-old to be attacked by aggressive dog, deputies say
After-prom party shooting kills former Cobb County student
While inside, an unidentified friend of Flinchum grabbed the dress and ran. The victim rushed out, attempting to stop the individual. A male witness with her managed to retrieve the dress, but tensions escalated as the group moved near the gas pumps, according to the report.
Moments later, the victim was surrounded by Flinchum, Kaylee George, and Lelia DeJager, according to Gwinnett County police.
'There was a dispute, which ultimately was a civil issue between the dress and money owed to one of the parties. Obviously, in the video, you can see it became physical, and that's when 911 was called.'
According to police, surveillance footage shows one of the suspects choking the victim, who then flipped her attacker over her shoulder in a defensive move.
'There was a victim being surrounded by multiple individuals,' said Madiedo.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
The victim told police she could not breathe while being choked, which triggered her self-defense response. After the flip, tensions remained high. As they waited for officers to arrive, another fight broke out when Flinchum allegedly swung at the victim, though the male witness stepped in to separate them. A second unidentified individual then grabbed the victim's hair, leading to another brief struggle.
Police arrived and reviewed store surveillance video of the incident. Officers documented visible injuries on the victim. The suspects later turned themselves in.
Investigators charged Flinchum, George, and DeJager with theft on Feb. 27. DeJager and Flinchum both face additional battery charges.
Authorities say this case highlights the risks of meeting in unsecured locations for online transactions.
'Here in Gwinnett County, all of our police precincts, including our headquarters here, have designated e-commerce parking,' said Madiedo. We invite any citizen out there, if you're looking to make a transaction, sell any items or purchase an item online, meet that person at one of our designated e-commerce locations.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein convicted in Manhattan sexual assault retrial in split verdict
NEW YORK — Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was convicted on a sexual assault charge in a split verdict in Manhattan Wednesday, a year after the verdict in his landmark 2020 trial was overturned. Despite tension among jurors, the panel of seven women and five men found Weinstein guilty after five days of deliberation of conducting a criminal sex act regarding former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, but acquitted him on the same charge regarding Polish model and aspiring actress Kaja Sokola. The 73-year-old faces up to 25 years in prison on the charge. Weinstein, 73, faced down Haley, Sokola and one-time actress Jessica Mann over the course of the eight-week Manhattan Supreme Court trial. Each took the stand to describe how the 'Pulp Fiction' producer forced himself on them. Mann accused him of raping her in 2013, while Haley and Sokola said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in separate incidents in 2006. The jury has not yet reached a verdict on the third-degree rape charge involving Mann, and is scheduled to resume deliberations Thursday. Outside court, Haley praised the verdict, and said the jury saw through the 'disruptive and chaotic tone' of Weinstein's defense lawyers. 'The truth was exhausting and at times dehumanizing, but today's verdict gives me hope, hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the perfect victim is fading,' Haley said. 'I hope that this result empowers others to speak out and seek justice.' Despite the jury finding Weinstein not guilty of her allegations, Sokola said she was 'very happy for this verdict.' 'It's a big win for everyone. Harvey Weinstein will be in jail. He was convicted three times for very serious crimes,' she said. 'For myself, it's closing a chapter that's caused me a lot of pain in my life, and having prosecutors hear my story, go through all the details with me, and believe me and support me, was extremely powerful.' The partial verdict Wednesday came after a chaotic day in court, with the jury foreman telling the judge that another juror threatened him, 'I'll meet you outside one day,' and with Weinstein himself admonishing the judge to call a mistrial. The drama in the jury room appears to center on Mann, who testified that Weinstein raped her in 2013 while acknowledging she'd maintained a years-long relationship that included consensual sexual encounters. 'I would never lie about rape or use something so traumatic to hurt someone,' Mann said in a statement Wednesday. 'Rape can happen in relationships – and in dynamics where power and manipulation control the narrative. Some victims survive by appeasing, and many carry deep empathy, even for their abusers. That's part of the trap.' The 6-foot-2 Weinstein, once a towering persona literally and figuratively in Hollywood, sat in a wheelchair throughout the trial. His health has taken a turn for the worse in recent months — he needed emergency heart surgery in September, and he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, according to multiple reports in October. Tensions in the jury room boiled into public view several times. On Wednesday, the foreman recounted fighting in the jury room because he wouldn't budge from his position and said he was fearful about continuing. 'I say, 'Listen, when you talk loud to somebody, somebody going come back the same way. He say, 'You don't know. You gonna see me outside. I say, 'You not going to see me outside, you not my family. I am here for do one thing, not for be friendly,'' the foreman said. 'I feel afraid inside there. I can't be inside there.' Weinstein's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, demanded a mistrial. 'There's a crime going on in there, menacing and harassment,' he said. 'This jury is clearly tainted,' Aidala said. 'This is as serious as cancer right now.' Mann and Haley also testified in Weinstein's 2020 trial, which ended in a guilty verdict. But last year, in a bombshell 4-3 decision, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned that conviction, saying the trial judge should have never allowed other women whose allegations were not included in the charges to testify against him and establish a pattern of predatory behavior. Even though the trial testimony was limited to the three women's allegation, Weinstein's long history of serial sex abuse allegations, and the #MeToo movement that went viral after those allegations became public in October 2017, hung over the proceedings. All three women testified about how they received money from a court-ordered victims' settlement fund through the Weinstein Co. bankruptcy, and spoke about how the news accounts of Weinstein's bad deeds spurred them to come forward. The trial judge, Curtis Farber, instructed jurors that they can't use that information to determine Weinstein had a propensity for sexual assault. Weinstein's lawyers also brought up #MeToo, with defense lawyer Arthur Aidala accusing the women of chasing a payday as the movement picked up steam and seeking out attorneys like prominent sexual assault survivor advocate Gloria Allred, who he described as a 'money lawyer.' The disgraced movie mogul's defense team painted the women as liars who manipulated Weinstein to 'cut the line' in the entertainment industry, then cashed in with big civil lawsuit settlements. Assistant D.A. Nicole Blumberg countered in her closing argument that the accusers stayed silent for years, but found the strength to come forward after news accounts revealed Weinstein's long history as a serial sexual abuser in October 2017. Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year sentence before his 2020 conviction was overturned, is also serving a 16-year term after a Los Angeles jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2022. He has appealed that verdict. _____
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. law enforcement's treatment of journalists during protests is once again under scrutiny
Abraham Márquez, a reporter with the nonprofit investigative news startup Southlander, was filming a tense standoff between Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and immigrant rights protesters in Paramount on Saturday night when he saw a deputy aim a 'less-lethal' launcher in his direction. Sensing a confrontation, Márquez said, he raised his press credential and 'kept yelling press, press, press,' even as he turned and began running in the opposite direction. He barely made it a few feet before he felt a stinging pain as first one foam round, then another slammed into his buttocks and his back. 'They just unloaded,' he said of the deputies. He was nearly struck again a short time later, when deputies riding by in an armored vehicle sprayed foam rounds into a gas station parking lot where Márquez and a KTLA-TV news crew had sought cover, he said. He was shaken, but said that he felt compelled to keep reporting. 'I got hit and what not but I'm glad I was there to document it,' he said. The incident was one of dozens in which journalists have been shot with less-lethal police rounds, tear-gassed, shoved and detained while chronicling the ongoing civil unrest and military intervention in the nation's second largest city, according to interviews and video footage reviewed by The Times. The police actions have drawn angry condemnation from public officials and 1st Amendment advocates. There have been multiple reported instances of reporters of not only being struck by projectiles, but also having their bags searched, being threatened with arrest, and getting blocked from areas where they had a right under state law to observe police activity. Among those hit by police projectiles were several Times reporters in the course of covering protests in downtown L.A. over the past few days. The LAPD and L.A. County Sheriff's Department have faced criticism and lawsuits over their treatment of news media during past crises, but some covering the recent events say the situation has only gotten worse with the inflammatory anti-media messaging coming from the Trump White House. 'The price for free speech should not be this high,' said Arturo Carmona, president and publisher of Caló News, a news site that covers issues that matter to English-speaking Latinos. 'Several of our reporters, several of whom are women of color, have been harassed and attacked by law enforcement.' In one high-profile case, a CNN reporter was briefly detained by officers while doing a live-on air segment. In another, Australian TV news reporter Lauren Tomasi was shot in the leg by a less-lethal round by an riot gear-clad officer moments after she wrapped up a live on-air segment. The incident became an international affair, with Australian Prime Minister Tony Albanese calling it 'horrific.' L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said it 'sends a terrible message,' and several city councilmembers referenced it while grilling LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on Tuesday about his department's response to the protests. In a statement, the Sheriff's Department said it was reviewing video footage from several incidents involving the news media to determine whether any of its deputies were involved. The department said it is 'committed to maintaining an open and transparent relationship with the media and ensuring that journalists can safely perform their duties, especially during protests, acts of civil disobedience, and public gatherings.' 'Our goal is to support press freedom while upholding public safety and operational integrity,' the statement said. LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Rimkunas said that two of the roughly 15 complaints the department was investigating as of Tuesday involved possible mistreatment of journalists — a number that is expected to grow in the coming days and weeks Rimkunas said the department decided to launch an investigation of the Tomasi incident on its own, but has since been in contact with the Australian consulate. A coalition of 27 press and civil liberties advocacy groups wrote to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday 'to express alarm that federal officers may have violated the First Amendment rights of journalists covering recent protests and unrest related to immigration enforcement in the Los Angeles area.' Multiple journalists who covered the protests told The Times that officers and deputies used physical force or the threat of arrest to remove them from areas where they have a right to be. In doing so, the journalists said, police were ignoring protections established by state law for journalists covering protests, as well as their own departments' policies adopted after mass protests after George Floyd's murder in 2020 and over the clearance of a homeless encampment in Echo Park in 2021. On Saturday, journalist Ben Camacho was documenting the scene in Paramount, where images of people vandalizing and burning cars dominated the nightly newscasts. Wearing his press pass and with a camera hanging around his neck, he watched in shock as law enforcement opened fire on the crowd with less-lethal munitions, striking Nick Stern, a British news photographer, who crumbled to the ground in front of him. After helping carry Stern to safety, Camacho said he too was struck by a round in the kneecap. 'I start to screaming pretty much at the top of my lungs,' he said. 'It was like a sledgehammer.' He noted that many people are working on freelance contracts that don't offer medical insurance, and said officers sometimes brush aside reporters with credentials from smaller independent outlets, which have an important role in monitoring events on the ground. Some police officials — who were not authorized to speak publicly — said officers try their best to accommodate reporters, but the situation on the street involves split-second decisions in a chaotic environment where they find themselves being attacked. They also contend that journalists from newer outlets or those who primarily post on social media act in adversarial or confrontational ways toward officers. Los Angeles Press Club Press Rights Chair Adam Rose said he has been collecting examples of officers from local, state and federal agencies violating the rights of journalists — seemingly ignoring the lessons learned and promises made the wake of past protests. Rose said many of the incidents were documented in videos that journalists themselves posted on social media. As of Wednesday morning, the tally was 43 and counting. The mistreatment of journalists at the recent protests are part of a 'history of ugly treatment by police,' Rose said, which included the 1970 killing of one of the city's leading Latino media voices, Ruben Salazar, who had been covering a Chicano rights protest when he was struck by a tear-gas canister fired by a sheriff's deputy. Even in cases where police abuses are well-documented on video, discipline of the offending officers is rare, Rose said. With plunging revenues leading to the downsizing of many legacy newsrooms, a new generation of citizen journalists have taken a vital role in covering communities across the country — their reporting is protected as their mainstream counterparts, he said. 'The reality is police are not the ones who're allowed to decide who is press,' he said. Some larger news companies have taken to hiring protective details for their reporters in the field, largely in response to aggressive crowds. On Saturday, L.A. Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena was struck in the head by a projectile fired by law enforcement during a demonstration in Paramount. She wasn't sure whether it was a tear gas canister or less-lethal munition, but said she later sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with a concussion. The day before she was hit in the thigh by another projectile while reporting downtown outside the jail, she said. Covering a few prior protests had taught her to always be mindful of her surroundings and to 'never have my back toward anyone with a weapon.' 'It's still kind of unbelievable that that happened,' she said of her concussion. 'It's unacceptable that that happened that other journalists were targeted.' Times staff writers Connor Sheets and David Zahniser contributed to this report.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Outside agitators' blamed for ICE protest damage in Brookhaven; AG warns against violence
Six people face charges after a protest of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations that was largely peaceful through the day experienced violence Tuesday night. Brookhaven's mayor told Channel 2's Michael Doudna that the people responsible for a lot of the damage were not from the area. 'It's clear that they were outside agitators, decided to try to basically goad us into action,' Mayor John Park said. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Only one of the people arrested was from Brookhaven, officials said. Around 9:30 p.m., windows were smashed on multiple police cars and fireworks were thrown. Park said those actions are a crime, not a protest. 'Pretty much all the protesters, they don't want violence,' he said. 'They want to be heard.' Estevan Hernandez helped organize the protest, speaking out against ICE operations across the country. 'L.A. was the spark, and we're seeing it travel across the country now,' he said of the nationwide demonstrations. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on Wednesday warned against people getting violent. 'If you use violence for the purposes of changing public policy, we can and will charge you with domestic terrorism,' Carr said. For most of the evening Tuesday, hundreds of people peacefully rallied along Buford Highway. This will likely be one of multiple protests in the near future, as law enforcement will have to balance First Amendment rights with public safety. 'People have the right to be heard,' Park said. 'We support that, but our main concern is we want to keep people safe.' The same group that organized Tuesday's protest has scheduled another one Saturday in DeKalb County. TRENDING STORIES: Lithonia rapper Silentó pleads guilty, sentenced to 30 years in prison for cousin's shooting death They were once best friends, then one killed the other. We take you inside this bizarre murder case The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson dies at 82 [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
