A prom dress sale spiraled into an all-out brawl at a Georgia gas station, with one of the alleged perps being flipped and body slammed onto the pavement as she tried to choke the 18-year-old seller.
The violence erupted at a RaceTrac gas station in Gwinnett County — about 30 miles outside of Atlanta — where the victim met her now former friend Morgan Flinchum, 20, to sell her the dress on Feb. 26, police told Fox 5 Atlanta.
The dress initially belonged to Flinchum but was in the victim’s possession because her mother had helped pay for it, and Flinchum contacted her to buy it outright, according to the police report.
When the victim met her former friend, Flinchum asked if they could go into the gas station’s bathroom to try it on, to which she agreed.
However, when they got inside the bathroom, a friend of Flinchum’s was waiting and yanked the dress away from the victim and ran.
The victim chased after the dress thief and caught up with her, but a struggle ensued and migrated over toward the gas pumps.
The seller’s boyfriend jumped into action and was able to grab his girlfriend’s dress from one of the assailants, but things only escalated.
Surveillance footage caught the moment a violent altercation broke out and shows the struggle between the victim, her boyfriend, and the alleged prom dress thieves.
At one point, one of the perps gets the smaller victim in a choke hold from behind, but she was able to flip the aggressor over her back and slam her onto the ground.
The brawl ended with Gwinnett County Police responding to the scene and reviewing the surveillance footage.
An investigation resulted in the arrests of Flinchum, Kaylee George, and Lelia DeJager, who all turned themselves in, police said.
Flinchum and Dejager have been charged with battery and theft by taking, and George has been charged with theft by taking.
“I would say it’s not normally something we have to investigate, an argument over a prom dress,” Cpl. Juan Madiedo told Fox 5 Atlanta.
The Gwinnett County Police said the violent altercation should be an example of why people should always make person-to-person sales at a public place with cameras.
The department said that all of its precincts have designated parking spots that are monitored by video to ensure a safe sales transaction.
“Here in Gwinnett County, all of our police precincts, including our headquarters here, have designated e-commerce parking,” Madiedo said.
“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.”
