Background: Jayla Cunningham drags a 15-year-old girl by her hood during a dispute over a payment for services (WTTG/YouTube). Inset: Cunningham speaks during an interview (WTTG/YouTube).
In Maryland, a 19-year-old woman named Jayla Cunningham faced the consequences of her actions after she was found guilty of dragging a 15-year-old client across the floor in her hair salon. This altercation arose from Cunningham’s belief that the teenager was attempting to skip out on paying for services rendered.
According to reports from The Washington Post and other local media, Cunningham received a sentence of six months of home detention. Her conviction for second-degree assault came in November, after the incident was widely publicized.
The altercation, which took place on March 2, 2025, gained notoriety when Cunningham shared a video of the incident on social media. The footage quickly went viral, reportedly reaching over 50 million views, and played a significant role in her subsequent legal troubles.
The conflict stemmed from a disagreement over payment for a $150 weave installation, as reported by Washington, D.C.-based Fox affiliate WTTG. In the video, Cunningham was seen cutting the weave out with scissors after the teen allegedly attempted to leave without paying.
In what appears to be surveillance footage from inside the Temple Hills salon, Cunningham can be seen dragging the girl across the floor by her hood before lurching her forward and ordering, “stay right here.” She then appears to add: “I”m not f— playing. You just tried to f— run?”
Cunningham explained her actions in an interview with a local TV station, stating, “She ran without paying me. I dragged her by her hood back into the salon until I could get paid or until the police arrived. Because it’s like… she literally ran outside, like she was about to be gone. I feel like if I didn’t do that, she would have been gone, and I would have just never been paid.”
“She ran without paying me,” Cunningham told the area TV station. “I dragged her by her hood back into the salon until I could get paid or, you know, until the police come or until, you know, she let me take out the service. Because it’s like … she literally ran outside, like she was about to be gone. I feel like if I didn’t do that, she would have been gone, and I would have just never been paid.”
The 15-year-old girl’s mother ended up filing a charge against Cunningham after the assault, with the pair saying the assailant pulled the minor’s hair and not just her hood. They also said that the girl did not try to skirt payment but rather sent her payment to the wrong address.
Cunningham reportedly had no idea she had been charged following the incident until WTTG brought it to her attention. As court proceedings commenced and continued, she told a Prince George’s County judge that “I really do regret what I did,” adding, “Can you have faith in me? Can you believe in me that I am trying?”
The defendant said she was going through mental health struggles at the time and was in the throes of an abusive relationship.
While the judge said he has “no reason to believe you’re a bad person,” he told the defendant that the “disregard you showed that young lady on that day is unacceptable.” As part of her sentence, Cunningham must take anger management classes and undergo mental health treatment.
