Six Arrested After Brawl Over Cigarettes

AP ^ | 6-7-05

[Dan from Michigan]

Six Arrested After Brawl Over Cigarettes
Tue Jun 7, 4:58 PM ET

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Four people were injured and six arrested following a brawl at a convenience store over a pack of cigarettes, authorities said.

It happened Sunday when a 20-year-old woman walked into the store on Johns Island and tried to buy cigarettes. The 18-year-old clerk would not sell them to her because the woman's driver's license was damaged.

The woman argued with the clerk, then left, returning a few minutes later with a friend who also started arguing. The friend then jumped over the counter and attacked the clerk, sheriff's deputies said.

A second clerk locked the door while the two traded blows in a fight caught on the surveillance camera. The two knocked over candy stands and oil containers and broke beer bottles as other customers gathered outside the locked store.

The clerk called relatives for help and 10 family members and friends arrived, several of them fighting with the two women customers.

When it was over, four women were injured and three arrested. Three more people were arrested on various charges on Monday.

"It's unfortunate that this incident escalated to the degree that it did," said Capt. Dana Valentine, of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.

She said it's amazing the injuries — mainly cuts and gashes — were not more severe considering the number of people involved.

Authorities have more people to question before finishing their investigation, Valentine added.

[Theresawithanh]

Wow, that was some nicotine fit! I've had 'em, but not that bad!

[SittinYonder]

The clerk called relatives for help and 10 family members and friends arrived, several of them fighting with the two women customers

I'm guessing among the store clerks, the 10 family members and friends and the two chicks fighting over the cigarettes there are two, maybe three GEDs and no high school diplomas.

[CO Gal]

And 23 teeth! :D

[Hunble]

The games are just now starting...

[KoRn]

I'd say the clerk had it coming. One time we walked out of a restaurant just before out meal was served because some b#%ch of a waitress refused to serve alcohol because a license was expired. We didn't start a brawl but we very much felt like it!

[ForGod'sSake]

Let's get ready to rrrrumble. Funny thing, the clerk was hit with $11,000+ in bail...

~snip~

It began about 7:40 p.m. Sunday, when Erica McGrew, 20, walked into the Kangaroo at 503 Main Road and asked for a pack of cigarettes. When Josie Esparza, 18, looked at her identification, she refused to sell McGrew any cigarettes because her license was damaged.

The two argued for about a minute before McGrew left.

About 10 minutes later, McGrew returned with her friend, Crystal Knickerbocker, and immediately started arguing with Esparza.

Knickerbocker jumped over the counter and attacked Esparza, police reported.

A second clerk, Tymia Davis, 22, locked the door to the store while Esparza and Knickerbocker traded blows and pulled each other's hair. The women moved in and out of the surveillance camera as they fought. Sheriff's officials said that they knocked over candy stands, broke beer bottles and knocked over oil containers.

Davis then began fighting with Knickerbocker while Esparza called her relatives for backup. Potential customers stood outside the store and watched the brawl unfold.

At one point, Knickerbocker attempted to escape, but Davis grabbed her and held onto her hair.

Minutes later, Davis unlocked the door and let Esparza's mother into the store after she and other family members arrived.

Words were exchanged before the family members attacked Knickerbocker and McGrew, according to the video.

The two women were beaten for a couple of minutes before sheriff's deputies arrived and cuffed the attackers. On Monday, deputies charged Esparza's cousin and uncle.

Elizabeth Trevino, 17, was charged with second-degree lynching. Her father, Fidenco Trevino, 36, was picked up on a federal probation violation for a drug offense.

A friend of McGrew's, Christopher Boling, 20, was charged with simple assault when police said he threatened the Esparza family at the bond hearing on Monday.

"We have quite a few more people to talk to before we will be finished with this investigation," Valentine said.

Esparza is charged with second-degree lynching and assault and battery. McGrew and Knickerbocker are charged with assault and battery.

Esparza was being held in the Charleston County jail on $11,087 bail. Bond for McGrew and Knickerbocker was set at $1,087 apiece.

Esparza was treated and released from St. Francis Hospital, while McGrew and Knickerbocker were treated for injuries at the scene. Knickerbocker had a large gash on her face that she suffered when she was hit with a beer bottle.

Michael Wentworth, the store manager, said he couldn't talk about the fight. "I can't make any comments, but the store is back to normal," he said.

FGS

[ForGod'sSake]

LINK. Sorry 'bout that. Printer version; may or may not require registration.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Are you aware that the waitress could be arrested on the spot for not properly checking I.D? You need to know that cops run sting operations using all kinds of tactics, and any server, bartender or clerk, with good sense, will say no when there is any doubt.

[patton]

LOLOL - evil weed, you know.

[Hunble]

Elizabeth Trevino, 17, was charged with second-degree lynching.

Esparza is charged with second-degree lynching and assault and battery.

Ok, when were the people involved strung up on a rope? And if so, is that not attempted murder?

[ForGod'sSake]

Ok, when were the people involved strung up on a rope?

Interesting charge, eh? Not sure what they refer to, but the vigilante aspect might be what it's about. I dunno.

[ForGod'sSake]

Seems the vigilante aspect was a good guess:

About Lynching

[Hunble]

lynch law n.

The punishment of persons suspected of crime without due process of law.

[After William Lynch (1742–1820).]

WORD HISTORY In the late 18th century, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, was troubled by criminals who could not be dealt with by the courts, which were too distant. This led to an agreement to punish such criminals without due process of law. Both the practice and the punishment came to be called lynch law after Captain William Lynch, who drew up a compact on September 22, 1780, with a group of his neighbors. Arguing that Pittsylvania had “sustained great and intolerable losses by a set of lawless men … that … have hitherto escaped the civil power with impunity,” they agreed to respond to reports of criminality in their neighborhood by “repair[ing] immediately to the person or persons suspected … and if they will not desist from their evil practices, we will inflict such corporeal punishment on him or them, as to us shall seem adequate to the crime committed or the damage sustained.” Although lynch law and lynching are mainly associated with hanging, other, less severe punishments were used. William Lynch died in 1820, and the inscription on his grave notes that “he followed virtue as his truest guide.” But the good captain, who had tried to justify vigilante justice, was sentenced to the disgrace of having given his name to the terrible practice of lynching.

[hatfieldmccoy]

Okay so whadda figure.. add this whole crowds IQ up and the total ....we're somewhere around room temperature.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I'd say the clerk had it coming. One time we walked out of a restaurant just before out meal was served because some b#%ch of a waitress refused to serve alcohol because a license was expired. We didn't start a brawl but we very much felt like it!

So you committed a crime by walking out of your meal because the waitress was doing her job.

ok.

[ForGod'sSake]

Okay so whadda figure...add this whole crowds IQ up and the total ....

~snort~ Not likely MENSA will be adding any of this crowd to its rolls.

[rogue yam]

I'm guessing among the store clerks, the 10 family members and friends and the two chicks fighting over the cigarettes there are two, maybe three GEDs and no high school diplomas.

And not more than three or four legitimate social security numbers?

[rogue yam]

Seems the vigilante aspect was a good guess

That's some wild stuff these store clerks pulled. Locking the perps in and then calling in a familial beatdown? That's old school, baby! Third world style! It would seem to me that the store will pay big time for whatever happened after the backup arrived. And its all on tape!

[Stu Cohen]

You think this is bad, wait until cigarettes are illegal.

WOD budget will need to double. I don't imagine people quitting en-masse the day after the law is passed.

It will all go the the black market, and we'll get a "Slave to Nicotine" film showing people running outside for breaks every hour so they could smoke a weed and calm down with the authoritative voice saying "Do you want little Johnny to be a slave to the life-detroying drug nicotine?"

It should get interesting sometime within the next 20 years.