According to Missouri Police Department spokeswoman Janice Poppenhusen, two unnamed friends were seated on a couch together waiting to see the handbags when the gathering took a sour turn.
According to Poppenhusen, 38-year-old Carla Lester and her mother, 56-year-old Joyce Payne, came in the room, shouting at the women on the couch. Jabbing her finger in the unnamed woman’s face, Payne hurled forth a vile accusation. The accused woman, a soon-to-be-ex friend of Lester’s, replied with her fists. A full-on donnybrook ensued, and before it was over, Payne is alleged to have slashed one woman on the neck and arm with an unspecified cutting instrument, while Lester is said to have brandished a bat in a threatening manner. (What kind of purse party has all these weapons lying around?)
Payne was charged with both assault and assault with a deadly weapon, while her daughter was hauled in for assault. The cut woman’s condition is unknown, as is the final tally of purses sold. – John Nova Lomax
