Shoplifter and Daughter Drown in Charlotte Creek

[OddBall]

Searchers have found the body of a 16-year-old girl who was missing after being swept away Friday in a swollen creek.

Police identified the girl as Rianna Tarell Johnson, a student at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology.

She and her mother, who also drowned, were chased from a clothing store, suspected of shoplifting.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they received a report of a larceny about 2:20 p.m. Friday at the Burlington Coat Factory in Crown Point Plaza shopping center off East Independence Boulevard.

When police arrived, one person was already in custody. But two others, police said, had fled.

A security guard ran after the two others, apparently chasing them behind the shopping center, down an embankment and into a creek that rose quickly after heavy rain Friday.

The security guard was able to escape the creek and told authorities where he last saw them.

About 4 p.m. Friday, firefighters found 43-year-old Gracie Nell Johnson about an eighth of a mile from where officials said she entered the creek. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Records show Johnson was arrested June 30, charged with felony common law robbery. She was convicted of misdemeanor larceny in 2008, according to the N.C. Department of Correction.

Police sources said searchers walking on foot along the creek's banks found Rianna's body about 1:40 p.m. Saturday. The area where they found her was about a half-mile from where she and her mother entered the creek.

Normally the creek is so shallow one could easily walk across it, said Charlotte Fire Capt. Rob Brisley. But on Friday, it had swollen to about 14 feet deep after heavy rain pounded the Charlotte area.

The security guard was apparently unharmed.

Stephen Johnson, who said he had dated Gracie Johnson for about six years, said she was a giving person known to give food to people when they were down on their luck.

Rianna, who was just two weeks shy of her 17th birthday, was a rising senior at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology. She was in the school’s ROTC program, Stephen Johnson said, and was considering joining the military after graduation.

“She was happy, friendly, positive,” Stephen Johnson said between tears.

A police crime scene van was parked in front of Burlington Coat Factory on Friday night, as customers continued their shopping.

Employees referred questions to the store's corporate office, which could not be immediately reached for comment.



Read more: Searchers recover body of girl, 16, in rain-swollen creek | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/08/06/2507862/suspected-shoplifters-try-to-cross.html#ixzz1UMhTsUZK)



Kid might have had a chance if it weren't for the f'cked up mother

[VITE1]

Two more pieces of crap gone. Great way to start the day. :dance::hurray::seeya:

[Uncle Pervey]

Stephen Johnson, who said he had dated Gracie Johnson for about six years, said she was a giving person known to give food to people when they were down on their luck.


Apparently she was a taking person too, taking other people's stuff, that is.... :leaving:


I guess she was just trying to speed along the redistribution of wealth policies of the Commiecrats. :yesnod:

[Munch]

At least they got some of the garbage out of the creek, got to protect our resources.

[OddBall]

Charlotte is competing with Durham and FayetNam for NC Shithole award.

[themonk]

Needless to say they won't be stealing anymore.

[Jeff '79]

Needless to say they won't be stealing anymore.

:iagree: The herd has been thinned....Too bad more criminals don't ebd up dead at their own hands.

[OddBall]

Rianna, who was just two weeks shy of her 17th birthday, was a rising senior at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology. She was in the school’s ROTC program, Stephen Johnson said, and was considering joining the military after graduation.


I'm going to take this at face value (even though it's a stretch ) to make a point.

It seemed that the kid was at least trying to improve her lot in life. But her bag-o-shit mother destroyed any hope of that. She was so f'cken worthless that she didn't even care about her own child's future, let alone her life.

And that culture is getting more and more pervasive.

[TabuIsMe]

I'm going to take this at face value (even though it's a stretch ) to make a point.

It seemed that the kid was at least trying to improve her lot in life. But her bag-o-shit mother destroyed any hope of that. She was so f'cken worthless that she didn't even care about her own child's future, let alone her life.

And that culture is getting more and more pervasive.
:iagree:
In a lot of these mother-daughter duos, the daughter is forced by the mother to commit these crimes. It seemed the child was trying to make a better life for herself.

[Jeff '79]

I'm going to take this at face value (even though it's a stretch ) to make a point.

It seemed that the kid was at least trying to improve her lot in life. But her bag-o-shit mother destroyed any hope of that. She was so f'cken worthless that she didn't even care about her own child's future, let alone her life.

And that culture is getting more and more pervasive.

:iagree:
In a lot of these mother-daughter duos, the daughter is forced by the mother to commit these crimes. It seemed the child was trying to make a better life for herself.

Bad genes are passed on.....Like mother , eventually , like daughter.

[OddBall]

Bad genes are passed on.....Like mother , eventually , like daughter.

Perhaps, but she was making the effort; or at least had the ability, as well as the opportunity to do better for herself. Yeah, she may have already been too ghetto'd-up to get her life squared away, but she might have. She might have still had that chance, especially if she had made it into the military.

My point is that the mother made damn sure that she had no chance. Even if they had survived the creek, she mother was still teaching her to be a common thief with an entitlement mentality.

[Prosecutor]

Charlotte is competing with Durham and FayetNam for NC Shithole award.

:yesnod:....still coming in 3rd behind those two cities, for now.

[69camfrk]

Two more pieces of crap gone. Great way to start the day. :dance::hurray::seeya:

Couldn't of happened to a better duo!!! Good riddance.

[Skia]

:yesnod:....still coming in 3rd behind those two cities, for now.Yeah and both of my daughters are living there. :sadangel:

[ft laud mike]

Kid might have had a chance if it weren't for the f'cked up mother
Doubt it
Apparently she was a taking person too, taking other people's stuff, that is.... :leaving:


I guess she was just trying to speed along the redistribution of wealth policies of the Commiecrats. :yesnod:
:rofl:
:iagree:
In a lot of these mother-daughter duos, the daughter is forced by the mother to commit these crimes. It seemed the child was trying to make a better life for herself.

Probably just ojt

[Prosecutor]

Yeah and both of my daughters are living there. :sadangel:

I live there too.

You should post pics of your daughters so that I can say "hello" if I recognize them.:D

[TabuIsMe]

Bad genes are passed on.....Like mother , eventually , like daughter.

I disagree with this statement.

[Skia]

I live there too.

You should post pics of your daughters so that I can say "hello" if I recognize them.:DPics are out there. Oldest lives off of Trade and the other is a student at UNCC. :yesnod:

[vetterdstr]

They should have stolen a few swimming lessons instead. :yesnod:

[themonk]

They should have stolen a few swimming lessons instead. :yesnod:

or waterwings.

[boracayjohnny]

The family is going to sue Burlington Coat Factory, the security guard, and those that rescued the misunderstood due to the deaths being their fault.

[Prosecutor]

The family is going to sue Burlington Coat Factory, the security guard, and those that rescued the misunderstood due to the deaths being their fault.

I don't doubt that the family will try; however, for a variety of reasons, I do not see that going anywhere.

A crafty attorney could try to articulate a claim of negligence, but it would be tough to swallow even by the most sympathetic jury in Mecklenburg County. In what way did Burlington Coat Factory breach a duty of care to the shoplifter? Maybe the LP agent should have backed off the chase, maybe not. The ladies themselves ran toward and into the swollen stream. Apparent lack of negligence aside, NC is a contributory negligence state. Shoplifting and fleeing into a swollen stream is the sort of thing that would preclude recovery by the shoplifters. No doubt that Burlington would assert contributory negligence as a defense (probably successfully)

[boracayjohnny]

I don't doubt that the family will try; however, for a variety of reasons, I do not see that going anywhere.

A crafty attorney could try to articulate a claim of negligence, but it would be tough to swallow even by the most sympathetic jury in Mecklenburg County. In what way did Burlington Coat Factory breach a duty of care to the shoplifter? Maybe the LP agent should have backed off the chase, maybe not. The ladies themselves ran toward and into the swollen stream. Apparent lack of negligence aside, NC is a contributory negligence state. Shoplifting and fleeing into a swollen stream is the sort of thing that would preclude recovery by the shoplifters. No doubt that Burlington would assert contributory negligence as a defense (probably successfully)

That even sounds like common sense was used in making the law. Good for them. And thanks for telling the other side of an often very litigious America.

[Blademaker]

It seemed that the kid was at least trying to improve her lot in life. But her bag-o-shit mother destroyed any hope of that. She was so f'cken worthless that she didn't even care about her own child's future, let alone her life.



Bullshit.
I'm not buyin it.
A 16 or 17 y/o knows the difference between right and wrong. I seriously doubt that Mom forced her to shoplift.
Her daughter had a choice.
And to paraphrase the old knight....."She chose poorly."

No pity/sympathy for either one.
They were dumbasses.
Operative word here......"were."

[onedef92]

Vigil for accused shoplifters who drowned

Posted: Aug 17, 2011 11:06 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 17, 2011 11:14 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Vigils normally come for individuals who are the victims of violence, what happened at a Southwest Charlotte park was slightly different due to the circumstances of deaths of a mother and daughter.

Gracie and Rihanna Johnson drowned in raging flood waters after police say the two were running away from Burlington Coat factory on East Independence Boulevard department.

Store security personnel told police that the two were engaged in the act of shoplifting.

Her husband Stefin Johnson spent the evening trying to contain his emotions, but he admits that his wife at times did in fact have trouble with the law.

"You don't know the whole situation," he said."I'm not justifying what she did, but you got to do what you got to do to feed your children."

One of her children was at the vigil.

Three year old Judas who Stefin will now raise by himself, and support came from Rihanna's schoolmates at Phillip O. Berry.

Friends remember her as an A-B student, and Rhianna's father said she was into the R-O-T-C, and had planned to join the military next year, after high school graduation.

Now he copes with the grief, and some of the online observations about the lives that were lost.

"It said, I guess she didn't know that ankle monitor wasn't a float device. Are you serious? This woman is dead and you can make a comment like that," Johnson says.

The mother and daughter will be buried in New York this coming weekend

[Munch]

Who knew you could feed your kids coats?

[Yerf Dog]

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/27/be/15219141_BG3.jpg

[Munch]

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/27/be/15219141_BG3.jpg

Is that the grieving father?