Inset: Stevi Jo Creech (Montgomery County Jail). Background: The Arby’s where Creech allegedly attacked an employee with a rock (Google Maps).
A 21-year-old woman in Ohio has been arrested after she allegedly attacked an Arby’s employee with a rock, leaving her bloodied and screaming. Stevi J. Creech was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of felonious assault resulting in serious harm, records show.
Gerrin Rankin, a 26-year-old man accused of assisting Creech in the attack, was also arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor criminal menacing.
Officers with the Kettering Police Department on Sept. 11 were on patrol in the area of Forrer Boulevard and Smithville Road when they were flagged down by an Arby’s employee in front of the restaurant, Dayton CBS affiliate WHIO reported. The Arby’s is located in the 2300 block of Smithville Road.
The officers reportedly wrote that when they found her, the female employee was “screaming and bleeding from the face.”
A witness to the alleged assault told investigators that Creech and Rankin ran into the restaurant from the interior drive-thru area, assaulted the employee, then fled on foot. Creech appeared to have something in her hand when she entered the Arby’s, the witness said, according to WHIO.
Surveillance footage from inside the Arby’s reportedly showed Creech enter the front door holding an object in her right hand and walk directly to the interior drive-thru. A police report identified the object she was carrying as a large rock, WHIO reported.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Rankin can reportedly be seen entering the restaurant several seconds after Creech.
While the alleged attack was not captured by the cameras, the footage does show Creech and Rankin rushing out of the Arby’s less than two minutes after entering. Seconds later, the victim reportedly enters the frame holding her face.
The witness who was present during the alleged attack reportedly told police he was about to intervene and try to end the confrontation, but said he was stopped by Rankin, who reached for the waistband of his shorts and ordered the witness to “back off.”
“[The witness] stated he took that to mean G. Rankin had a weapon, presumably a gun, and backed off without intervening,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
In an interview with police, the victim said she and Creech had been together the previous night and that Creech had accused her of “stealing a roach,” referring to the leftover tip of a blunt or joint.
Following the incident, the duo were located by police and arrested a “short distance away” from the restaurant.
The AES Restaurant Group, which operates the Arby’s location, released a statement to Dayton NBC affiliate WDTN.
“AES Restaurant Group prioritizes team member safety and is fully cooperating with authorities following the incident,” the statement said. “The team member involved has received medical care and has since returned to work.”
Creech is currently being held in the Montgomery County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 22.
Rankin was no longer in custody as of Thursday morning.
