Background: Melrose High School on Deadrick Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee (Google Maps). Inset: Jasmine Dunmars (Shelby County Sheriff's Office).
When parents and students got together for a band meeting at a Tennessee high school, one mother rammed her vehicle into another's and attacked several kids, authorities say.
Jasmine Dunmars, 37, has been charged with four counts of aggravated assault, vandalism between $2,500 and $10,000, misdemeanor assault, and misdemeanor reckless endangerment, court records show. She has been lodged in the Shelby County Jail since May 8 and is being held on a $125,000 bond.
On April 21, a mother and her three daughters attended a meeting with teachers for the school band at Melrose High School on Deadrick Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. When the meeting ended, this mother "waited in the parking lot."
According to an affidavit of complaint obtained by Law&Crime, the woman wanted to speak to Dunmars "regarding Dunmars' child bullying her child." The women spoke "briefly," but Dunmars "did not want to discuss the issue."
The defendant got in her 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and drove away, the court document goes on. However, she "immediately returned" as the other woman was leaving in her own 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. Dunmars "parked in front" of the other woman's vehicle, "partially blocking her path."
As Dunmars got out of her SUV to speak to the principal, a fight broke out between her daughter and two of the daughters of the other mother, officers with the Memphis Police Department say. One of the other woman's daughters "ran to the opposite side of a vehicle from the fight," but Dunmars allegedly "ran up" to the girl "and began punching her."
School staff broke up the fight. However, the chaos had not concluded.
Dunmars reportedly got in her SUV again and "turned her wheels" toward the Pathfinder, accelerating and "ramming" the vehicle where another girl inside was trying to exit. This girl "suffered an abrasion" from the impact, authorities said.
But the suspect apparently wasn't done. According to the affidavit, she then reversed and headed toward the other mother and other students and staff. She "accelerated once more," attempting to "strike everyone with her vehicle, but all were able to move out of the way."
Dunmars allegedly "drove through the parking lot, turned around and intentionally struck" the other woman's vehicle once more. The other mother got in her Pathfinder and left, but Dunmars "continued to chase them," police said.
Police responded, and Dunmars was identified as the driver "who attempted to run over the citizens." The other mother and one of her daughters were interviewed about a week later, and they, too, reportedly identified Dunmars as their attacker.
The damage to the Pathfinder was estimated at $7,937. Dunmars was later arrested and booked into jail.
She has a mental evaluation scheduled in court for June 11.
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