Cops: Shoplifter Bit Off Walmart Worker's Finger

JANUARY 11--A South Carolina woman who was convicted last year of clobbering a fellow strip club employee over the head with a stiletto shoe was arrested yesterday after she bit off the finger of a Walmart employee who tried to stop her from shoplifting condoms, lubricant, and panties, police charge.

According to cops, Carolynn Wright, 23, was confronted Sunday afternoon by a pair of loss prevention officers as she exited a Walmart in Myrtle Beach. The workers, police noted, approached Wright “after they observed her conceal merchandise.”

Wright, pictured above, tussled with the two female Walmart staffers, punching one woman in the head, “causing bleeding around her left ear.” Wright then bit down on worker Candice Lawson’s finger, “causing a portion of [Lawson’s] finger to be bitten off.”

When a Walmart customer dropped her phone as she sought to dial 911, Wright grabbed the phone and would not return it. During a subsequent struggle, Wright pulled the hair of the shopper, who responded by punching the suspect in the face.

When police arrived at Walmart, they noticed “a piece of a finger” belonging to Lawson. The finger, which was then rushed to responding EMS workers, “was not able to be reattached,” according to cops, who noted that Lawson “required stitches.”

Wright was arrested after cops pulled her from a minivan in the Walmart parking lot. The car’s driver, a 71-year-old man, told officers that Wright had gone into the store “to make a purchase,” and that when she returned to the vehicle, she directed him to “Drive!” The man added that while “there was someone standing in front of the vehicle blocking his way,” Wright again demanded that he “Drive!”

Charged with aggravated assault, a felony, simple assault, and larceny, Wright is being held without bond in advance of a court hearing next week.

Wright pleaded guilty last March to a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from her arrest for battering a coworker with a “clear plastic high-heeled shoe” during a confrontation at Chez Joey, a Myrtle Beach gentlemen’s club.

As detailed in a police report, Wright, who worked as a stripper, attacked the victim inside a club bathroom around 2 AM. The victim was treated at a local hospital for a swollen left eye, swelling to her forehead, and puncture wounds to her scalp. Wright was sentenced to six days in jail and ordered to pay fines and court costs totaling $173.90. (3 pages)