A fender-bender near North Carolina Highway 109 and Liberty Drive in Thomasville spiraled into chaos Thursday afternoon when a roadside dispute turned into a group fight, a head stabbing, and a pepper-spray deployment that left five adults in handcuffs. Police say the violence erupted fast, leaving a lone officer to face down a swarm of adults and juveniles before backup could arrive.
Officers responded to the crash and the disturbance around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, according to WXII 12 News. A caller had reported that occupants of the vehicles involved in the crash were fighting, and that one of them had a knife. The first officer to reach the scene arrived alone, finding a heated confrontation already underway between multiple adults and juveniles.
That officer disarmed the person holding the knife, but the chaos didn’t stop there. Several people kept up aggressive and disorderly behavior despite repeated verbal commands, the station’s report notes, and a juvenile’s actions agitated the crowd enough that the solo officer deployed a brief burst of department-issued OC pepper spray to gain compliance and safely make an arrest — all before any backup had arrived.
Officer Alone Against the Crowd
The juvenile who sparked the spray deployment resisted the officer and ignored lawful commands before being detained and taken into custody, per the same account. Additional officers arrived shortly afterward to help secure the scene, and the original officer kept working to prevent further physical confrontations and maintain order, according to a police release cited in the report.
One person suffered a stab wound to the head during the melee and needed stitches. Officers said the injured person declined medical treatment and transport to a nearby hospital. Separately, EMS treated a juvenile involved in the fight for pepper-spray-related injuries, both at the scene and later at the Thomasville Police Department.
Five Adults Face Charges, Juvenile Petitions Filed
Five adults were arrested in connection with the incident. Shenara D. Roach-Lytch, 29, of High Point, faces the most serious charges: assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, resisting, delaying, and obstructing a public officer, and disorderly conduct.
Melissa Ann Dulaney, 50, of Thomasville, was charged with simple affray and resisting, delaying, and obstructing a public officer. Joseph Doyle Dulaney, 52, Sumer Daun Dulaney, 24, and Colton Bryce Underwood, 20 — all of Thomasville — were each charged with simple affray. Officers also filed petitions against multiple juveniles; one who was taken into custody was later released to family.
All five adults are scheduled to appear in court on November 11. Under North Carolina law, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury is addressed in § 14-32, while affray charges fall under G.S. 14-33 of the state’s general statutes.
Police Say Viral Clips Don’t Tell the Whole Story
As video of the confrontation began circulating online, Thomasville police pushed back on the idea that any single clip captures what happened. The department said the videos depict only portions of the events that occurred and do not capture the entire incident from beginning to end.
Investigators are now reviewing body-worn camera footage, witness statements, and videos collected from various sources as they continue piecing together exactly how a routine crash call turned into a stabbing, a pepper-spray deployment, and five arrests in the span of minutes.
