‘Trashy’ Trick-or-Treat Mom Punched Teen Dressed as Pennywise: Cops

I'm really I'm at a loss for words on. all of this. And when she got close. enough to my daughter, she started. raining punches on my daughter like Mike. Tyson. An Arkansas mother and. administrator at a local charity is now. accused of beating up a teenage girl. while out trick-or-treating. This is a. story that's almost too wild to be. believed. And there is a lot of. speculation online about what happened. [music] here. The girl's father took to. social media to set the record straight. in his eyes. And this is all [music] as. police took the alleged perpetrator into. custody. So, what happens next? Will.

online campaigns for justice help or. hurt a future court case? [music] We're. going to talk about it with a trial. attorney right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm [music]. Jesse Weber. By the way, we're talking Halloween, but. the holidays are just around the corner. And if you're thinking about that time, you're with family, you're with friends, food, all that, but you're thinking, "What do I get somebody?" Cozyear. Okay, this is our sponsor. Incredible. We got. their bamboo pajama set. It's amazing. It's made with a soft stretch knit that.

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it's beloved by people of all ages, but. especially children. And what's not to. love? There's costumes, there's candy, there's a walk around the neighborhood. with your friends. But I will tell you, one family in Arkansas says this past. Halloween, it was a nightmare. And it. was a nightmare that they won't soon. forget. Why? According to multiple. people who say they saw what happened, you have a group of 15 to 20 people who. were trick-or-treating on Lexi Lane. It's a neighborhood street that's lined. with homes in the city of Paragold. And. witnesses say there was an altercation.

between a grown woman, Trish Eubanks, and a 16-year-old girl that has been. identified by the family as Josie. Knoblin. Knoblin's father says that. Eubanks attacked the teen, hitting her. multiple times in the face. Eubanks. apparently claims that the girl hit her. first, and not knowing she was only 16. years of age, she hit her back in. essentially self-defense. Either way, it's not great. And we are talking. witnesses here, right? Witnesses claim. that Eubanks also allegedly made.

multiple threats that she was going to. start shooting. Now, as supporters on. one side or the other, they battle on. social media about who was in the right. here. This is what Paragle police wrote. up about their observations that night. Quote, "Upon arriving at the scene, officers observed injury to a. 16-year-old female and she was. transported from the scene via. ambulance. Officers gathered the. information available and forwarded the. case to detectives upon learning that. the juvenile had multiple serious. injuries to her face and head. Detectives conducted numerous follow-up.

interviews and gathered additional. information which represented that the. potential defendant, Trish Eubanks, threatened to shoot one individual, cause serious physical injury to the. 16-year-old female, and caused physical. injury to another male on scene who was. trying to separate the parties. The. additional information provided showed. that the defendant provoked the. situation and did not remove herself. from the situation while having the. ability to do so. And as this story. quickly spread around the small city. over the weekend, there were loud. demands from the community that Eubanks.

be arrested. And that is exactly what. happened the following Monday. According. to jail records, Trish Eubanks was. booked on charges of terroristic. threatening in the first degree, battery. in the second degree, and battery in the. third degree. All on November 3rd. She. spent a little more than 24 hours in. jail per those jail records and. indicated that she posted a $50,000 bond. and was released Tuesday at around 7 pm. Now, Miss Eubank's arrest, it is notable. because of her position in the community. as well. She is still listed as quote.

the developmental director on the. website for Mission Outreach of. Northeast Arkansas. This is a charitable. organization. According to the site, our. development director plans all special. events, meets with donors one-on-one, develops new fundraising campaigns, documents and acknowledges all gifts, is. involved in the community, and. administers our food programs. There's. no word on whether Eubanks is going to. be able to keep her position, but we do. know thanks to social media that a lot. of people called the agency over the. weekend to report this alleged assault. And with all the rumors flying all over.

the place, the teen's dad, Justin. Knoblin, went live on Facebook to talk. about what he saw go down on Halloween. night. We're going to talk about that. So, to discuss what he had to say, how. the Eubanks family are responding, I. want to welcome trial attorney Aaliyah. Roberts to the studio. Aaliyah, it's so. good to see you. Thanks for taking the. time. >> Thank you, Jesse. >> This is a weird one. This is an. unfortunate one. What are your thoughts. on it? >> I think that it's sad first. I think. that community is very, very important. when things like this happen, right? because everyone always asks the.

questions, where are the witnesses? Where is the video? Where are the. photographs? What happened? And if all. of these people are collectively saying. Miss Eubanks attached this 16-year-old. girl, her defense as to whether or not. she was 16 or not doesn't matter. You. should assume she was 16 because it's. Halloween and everyone's. trick-or-treating and most of the youth. are outside. And more importantly, against all of those things, you should. keep your hands to yourself. I'm. confused as to what type of defense that. she's building as to she was hit first.

or she was attacked. >> Well, is that a legitimate defense? Like. if someone is 16, yes, they're a minor, but if they attack you, can you legally. defend yourself? >> Legally, self-defense is always a. defense, right? It just depends on the. circumstances. I think it has to be. reasonable, right? Every anyone can make. the defense of self-defense. And. legally, she isn't right to make that if. she was attacked first, if she wasn't. fearful of herself. But she also had a. duty to take care of her own self and. retreat from the situation. And what. we're seeing here is that she did not do.

that, right? She continued to attack. this 16-year-old girl. >> Let's talk about this uh Facebook video. So Justin Knoblin, the father, was out. with his children, according to him, including his 16-year-old daughter, and. she was dressed as Pennywise the clown. Take a look. >> It was a crazy crazy insane night. Um, I. need to tell the full story because. there's a lot of confusion of. what was happening, what was going on, who did what. Um, I'll I'll do that now, I guess.

>> So, according to Knoblin, he and Chris. Eubanks, okay, had this falling out last. year over a certain piece of hunting. land and who had the right to be on it. But he says that they had really no. interaction since then until Halloween. since then. And that was last year, the. last time we had good snow on the. ground. That's the last time I had seen or heard. from any of these people until Halloween. night when I'm walking down the street. with my babies,

looking to my right, talking to a friend. that was beside me when somebody walked. up, grabbed my shoulder, and spun me. around. and started saying, "Hey, you're. Justin." You're Justin, right? Hey, Justin. How are you, Justin? And I would. said, "Yeah, I'm Justin. Who are you?". Cuz I didn't recognize him. And then he. said some things and reminded me of who. he was. So I said, "Oh yeah, appreciate. you trespassing trespassing on my land. last year." So basically, Knoblin seems.

to claim that he decided to bluff and. say that he Knoblin had actually hunted. on Eubank's land and taken down a big. deer. And Knoblin says in the Facebook. live that he never actually went on. Eubank's land. He was just saying that. and that is when he claims Eubanks. snapped and all hell broke loose. >> But as soon as I said that I had been on. his land, he immediately started. threatening to shoot me. At that point, his wife.

started threatening me as well and. yelling and talking crazy. And then my. daughter Josie being who she is just. like her daddy ran in front of that. woman, cussed her out, told her to quit. talking to me that way, that there was. children present, that she didn't need. to say those things and she didn't need. to be acting like that. At that point, I. grabbed my daughter. I turned her away. and said, "You're a kid. She's a adult. She's a grown woman. Let me handle. this." And I let go of her. And I turned.

back around for her fat husband Chris to. grab me and shove me out of the way. When I did, that woman kept talking. about she was going to shoot me. I'm. going to shoot you. Shoot you. Shoot. you. Shoot you. She had both her hands. in her pockets and she was inching. closer and closer and closer to me. When. Josie saw that, she jumped in between. that woman and me. There was about 5t between that woman. and my child when that happened.

That woman continued to inch closer to. me and my daughter, saying she was going. to shoot me. And when she got close. enough to my daughter, she started. raining punches on my daughter like Mike. Tyson. My daughter's standing there in a. Halloween costume with a bag full of. candy in her hand. And this woman says. that she thought she was an adult. She thinks my 95 lb child was an adult.

When this woman started hitting my. child, I jumped around her husband, grabbed my child, turned her around to. cover her from the punches, looked back. just like this, and this woman punched. me straight in my face, crushed my sinuses. I got a cut right. here. This is a big cut. Okay, so. Aaliyah, look, this is his version of. events. Obviously though, you know, you. look at the the injuries here, the.

apparent injuries uh to his daughter. First, let's start with the charge of, you know, terroristic threatening. It's. not just making the claim of I'm going. to shoot you, but he describes these. other alleged actions that she took, moving closer, hands in the pocket. Do. you think that would be hard to prove. terroristic threatening like this? >> I think it could be. Of course, the. witnesses would help cooperate if that. actually happened, right? Whatever video. was taken at the time, whatever. individuals also heard those same things.

or saw those same things. And once you. have at least one or two, right? It's a. matter of credibility because it's there. is cooperation. Once you have a witness. or you have a video or you have a. photograph and even if you had none of. those things, it's still a matter of. credibility of this witness, right? like. if if this individual says this is what. happened to me, it's a prosecution's job. to support that with all the additional. evidence in that in this case. >> But but you're seeing his version of. Vince, which may very well uh uh be. true. And if it's true, that that's the.

timeline and how it escalated, then. Trish Eubanks would be in a lot of. trouble, right? I mean, in terms of uh. there could be verbal provocation, but. if she was the one who became physical. first and started threatening first, the. law would say she's the aggressor and. can't claim self-defense, right? >> Correct. Correct. Because if she has. initiated this convers, she's initiated. the verbal threats, like you said, verbal assault arguably, like you said, making curse words and then her.

self-defense of I didn't know that she. was a child. Of course, you knew that. she was a child. you knew that she was a. child because as the as the um the the. father of the victim said that she was. in a Halloween costume with candy. >> and he apparently also said you're my. daughter you're my child move to the. side again but the question is is. obviously a defense would say is he a. reliable narrator and B from a legal. point of view obviously he's a concerned. father wants to make a video set the. record straight in his eyes but from a. legal point of view he's now tied to.

those statements. >> right he's now tied to that version of. events and if it should change closer to. a trial, um that could be something a. defense attorney works upon. Right. >> Of course. Of course. But the matter the. question is what portions of the story. change, right? If he was on the left. versus the right or if he was it was 3. feet versus 5T, the question is are. these small minutiae details important. enough to discredit the entire situation. of what happened? And in preparing for. it today, I did go on social media and.

see what statements that I could find. because there were individuals from the. community. It wasn't just, you know, the. victim's father. There were a lot of. individuals from the community who had. post who said, you know, who said, "I. saw what happened, who said, you know, like we were talking about calling for. her to be removed from her position." So. I think this is one of those situations. where the community being around in this. moment and this being a very open space. as being something like that was very. public is going to be very very either. helpful or hurtful to the prosecution. depending on how you look at it. >> Now according to Knoblin Chris Eubanks. again the husband here and another man.

grabbed him, held him back from the. altercation and Knoblin claims that when. that happened they also shoved his wife. So this is Jos's stepmom who's 8 months. pregnant. Take a look. >> While they're doing that to me and my. wife, [snorts] that woman, that sorry. excuse for a woman, jumped back on my daughter. She was not hitting my daughter. My. daughter wasn't hitting her. My daughter. wasn't near her. She ran and jumped on.

my daughter and started punching her. more for a second time. And that's when. 15 to 20 good people from this town. jumped on her and started trying to pull. her apart. And she was locked in and. would not let go. And her entire face. was bleeding, profusely bleeding. U. at that point, as any father would,

I lost it. I pulled my shirt off and I. started screaming. And these people were. trying to run away. Why were they. running away if they didn't do anything. wrong? If it was self-defense, why'd you. run away? I know that you guys think the. same thing that I think. I, however, I. don't want anybody threatening her. I. don't want anybody going to her house. I. don't want anybody. uh doing anything to her. I want her to sit there and pretend to. be the perfect little thing she is and.

let these felony charges uh change that. attitude for. >> So, Knoblin has been calling for Chris. Eubanks and this other man to be. arrested for their part or their alleged. part in this altercation. Do you think. that's something we should expect? >> I think so. Again, if it's going to be. very hard to prove based off of this. account of events where this the. victim's father received these injuries, right? because on his account I he never. put hands on anyone except to remove his.

daughter from the situation. And I think. based off of that alone, unless another. version of events comes forth or another. statement is put out right now, we only. have one statement from him, the victim, but we also statements from the. community that say this is what happened. and this is what I saw. So unless the. defense is going to say, "Well, that. wasn't what happened. Someone attacked. me first." We have no evidence of that. presently. Of course, as this case. develops, as discovery develops, as we. have, you know, testimony and everything. like that, we might have another. version, right? We might have another.

version from the defendant and from her. husband as to what happened. But. presently, only one set, only one party. or parties have injuries. And based off. of the injuries, it appears that these. victims are attacked. >> It's interesting you mentioned the. injuries and photographing the injuries. because Knoblin says he was able to pull. out his phone, snap a couple quick. photos before Eubanks allegedly tried to. slap it out of his hand. And Josie, by. the way, apparently posted this selfie. from Arkansas Methodist Medical Center. Her face is partially obscured, but her. mom posted photos showing the apparent.

progression of her facial injuries on. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And you. can still see some kind of the red face. pain from her Pennywise costume and now. seemingly replaced by the bruises and. the swelling. According to Jos's. parents, she has multiple fractures. They're speaking with a specialist to. see if she needs to have surgery. Justin. Knoblin is hoping that someone has a. clearer video of what happened here. Take a listen. >> Anyone that was there that witnessed. this woman hit my child because again, she's claiming self-defense.

even though she went back and attacked. my child a second time. That's I don't. know how that's self-defense, but and. she's claiming my child ran up and hit. her from behind. So if anybody saw the. first hit from this lady or saw where. she just jumped back on my daughter, I. really need you to interrate that to the. police department as much as possible. >> And you know there is something to be. said that you know he's calling for. this. So it seems to suggest a.

confidence in what he believes happened. here. I will tell you we mentioned this. before. This case is really blowing up. on social media. So the photos of Jos's. apparent injuries basically spreading. like wildfire. Many of you are using the. hashtag justice for Josie and these blue. ribbons are going up all over Paragold. with that slogan on them and you wonder, you know, how that might affect this and. I'm going to ask you a about that. But. first, what does Eubanks have to say. about all this? So, local outlet NEA. report with NEA standing for Northeast. Arkansas tried to speak with Trish. Eubanks didn't get a response. Her.

husband Chris, who we mention a lot, sent them a statement which says, "I was. with my wife on Halloween as we. chaperoned our kids. who were. trick-or-treating when we had a. regrettable encounter. A young woman was. spewing foul language in front of the. children. And when my wife asked her to. watch her language, the young woman, who. wore face paint and stood tall enough to. appear to be an adult, struck my wife in. the face. My wife defended herself as. any reasonable person could be expected. to do. We are hardworking, law-abiding, peaceloving people. And although my wife. was assaulted first, our greatest hope.

is to put this matter behind us. So, a. completely different narrative. I do. wonder if it all comes down to, you. know, obviously there's different. accounts here, but cell phone footage. >> It might, right? But I think it's it's. very very important if they're painting. this whole I was attacked first. argument, right? So if there are two. separate encounters, even if the first. encounter, let's say under in this. scenario that Josie attacked this woman. first, the first encounter was. self-defense, how do you explain the.

second encounter? >> Isn't it a progression though? >> Correct. But but then it's a situation. of if I was attacked and I fought and I. hit this person at some point if this if. she's bleeding the way they're saying. and she has fractures with you saying. she was really putting a beating on this. girl. Right? So you couldn't have felt. that you were in harm's way at some. point when I'm now seeing gushing blood. from another person. I'm not bleeding. You can't make that argument because now. the situation is well I see that she's. bleeding. So a reasonable person, how do. I feel that I'm still I'm still under. threat? How do I feel that I'm still in.

danger if I am now causing the threat to. another person? >> Because this is getting so much. attention in the community. I was. thinking how it might affect the case. I. mean, even trying to get a jury, um, if. people have opinions about this and are. seeing this, I do wonder if I have to. move it to a different play different. venue. I mean, we're not at a trial yet, but how does that all affect a case like. this public attention? >> I definitely think that if I'm the. defense attorney, I'm definitely going. to try to remove this case to any other. venue that is not the community because, as you said, this doesn't seem to be a. large community. So, the individuals. that are going to be summoned to be.

jurors are of course going to be tainted. because they have so much information, right? It's blowing up on social media. Like you said, the normal person is on. social media every day. There's your. neighbors. There's people that, oh, did. you hear about this? Just in in regular. conversation. It's going to be very, very difficult to find jurors that have. not been exposed to this case. >> Look, right now, it's not clear when uh. Eubank's first appearance in court will. be. Knoblin posted on Facebook that he. was looking for an attorney for himself. and his daughter to help navigate. through everything that comes next in. the legal process. And it's just a.

really distressing situation and. horrible to see. We talked the legal. aspects of it, but the human aspects of. it. It's just a really unfortunate. situation. Aliyah Roberts, great to see. you. Thanks for taking the time. >> Always great to see you, Jesse. Thank. you. >> You got it. And that's all we have for. you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining. us. And as always, please subscribe on. YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. [music] You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak. to you next time.