John Jefferson
Kristin Burnett (Vanderburgh County Jail).
A 33-year-old woman allegedly took the fun out of a festival when she strangled a 12-year-old girl during an altercation over line-cutting.
It happened shortly before 8 p.m. on Friday during the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival in Evansville, Indiana. Police detectives were working security for the event when they saw an argument unfold between someone later identified as Kristin Burnett and another woman. Burnett was apparently upset that someone had cut in front of her while in line for an amusement ride, cops said in a probable cause arrest affidavit.
During the spat, a 12-year-old girl in front of the women decided to play peacekeeper and offered up her spot in the line. Thinking Burnett didn’t hear her, she approached the defendant in a “non-threatening manner,” the affidavit said.
“I observed Burnett grab [the victim] by the throat and forcibly push her against the gate of an amusement ride,” a detective wrote.
Three cops ran to Burnett to get her off the girl. A man, Michael A. Flemming Jr., also held Burnett away from the cops trying to detain her, the affidavit said. The detective flashed his badge to Burnett and Flemming to let them know he was a cop.
After taking both into custody, detectives interviewed the victim. She told cops after Burnett allegedly grabbed her throat her “breathing was restricted,” the affidavit said. She also couldn’t feel her nose. Four other witnesses corroborated the victim’s story and confirmed what detectives had witnessed, cops wrote.
Michael Flemming Jr. (Vanderburgh County Jail).
Cops took Burnett to the Vanderburgh County Jail on charges of battery of a person under 14 years old and disorderly conduct. She has since bonded out. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Flemming took a “mule kick” at police officers trying to detain him, causing a cop’s knee to bleed. He was arrested on charges of battery against a public safety official, resisting law enforcement causing bodily injury and obstruction of justice, Evansville NBC affiliate WFIE reports.
The festival has been going on in Evansville for over 100 years. It began in 1921 when a couple of West Side business owners decided to have an event “for the betterment of the West Side of Evansville; also for the Betterment of Evansville as a whole.”
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