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Inset: Allie Barrentine (Bay County Jail). Background: A Walmart Supercenter in Panama City Beach, Fla. (Google Maps).
An Alabama woman found herself behind bars in Florida this week after allegedly assaulting two elderly women in a parking lot of a major retail store, while reportedly under the influence of alcohol and drugs, according to Florida authorities.
Allie Grace Barrentine, 25, faces charges including two counts of battery against individuals aged 65 or older. Additionally, she is charged with resisting an officer without violence and engaging in disorderly conduct, as reported by the Panama City Beach Police Department.
The incident unfolded on Monday night in the parking area of a Walmart Supercenter situated on Panama City Beach Parkway, within the city sharing the same name — a charming resort destination on the Florida Panhandle.
Police were summoned to the scene around 7:40 p.m. that evening, as detailed in a criminal complaint acquired by Law&Crime. Authorities claim Barrentine “deliberately and intentionally” struck both victims during the altercation.
According to the charging documents, the confrontation occurred while Barrentine was traversing the parking lot, and the victims were inside a vehicle moving along the same lane — one as the driver and the other as a passenger.
The affidavit does not specify any preceding conflict, only noting the alleged violence that erupted as Barrentine and the vehicle came into close proximity.
“The defendant began to punch the vehicle,” the charging document reads. “The occupants of the vehicle exited and the defendant grabbed the victim”s left arm and broke one bracelet. The defendant also grabbed and pulled the victim by her necklace. The victim is approximately 69 years of age.”
The law enforcement narrative is largely repetitive in describing the initial moments of the alleged attack on the second woman, using substantially similar language as the first description.
But the second woman was injured differently, police said.
“The defendant began to punch the victim’s vehicle,” the charging document goes on. “The occupants of the vehicle exited, and the defendant grabbed the victim by the throat which had visible redness. The defendant also scratched the orbital area and punched the victim with a closed fist in the left eye. There was also visible rise in the area where she was scratched. The victim is approximately 65 years of age.”
Law enforcement arrived around 8 p.m. that night, the affidavit says.
At around 8:05 p.m., Barrentine made contact with responding officers and resisted arrest, according to the police department.
“While speaking with the defendant, she had the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from her breath, was unsteady on her feet and needing to lean on a vehicle to remain upright, and was slurring her speech heavily,” an officer wrote in the affidavit. “The defendant also admitted to consuming alcohol and Cannabis.”
After one officer told another officer the defendant was being charged and arrested, Barrentine was told “to face the vehicle and to place her arms behind her back,” police said.
Those commands, however, apparently did not go over well.
“The defendant became argumentative and refused to comply,” the police officer wrote, saying “she attempted to pull away multiple times” after being pushed “against the vehicle to secure her.”
Handcuffing Barrentine was allegedly not much easier.
“When swapping the defendant into flex cuffs and removing the original handcuffs, the defendant slipped the flex cuffs and pulled her left arm out, again attempting to pull away from us despite being ordered to stop resisting,” the charging document goes on. “After being secured in a patrol vehicle, the defendant tampered with the flex cuffs and removed them from her right wrist, requiring a different set of restraints to be used.”
Barrentine, who hails from Tuscaloosa, was detained in the Bay County Jail on a combined bond of $21,000.
Jail records currently do not list her as an inmate.
The defendant is next slated to appear in court on April 20, for her first arraignment, court records show.