Man masturbates in front of 12-year-old girl at Dollar General, police say

photo Joel Peinado-Torres
Map

Dollar General lot on East Morris Street

Dollar General lot on East Morris Street

When Dalton police officer Molly Parker drove up to the parked silver BMW, she said, Joel Peinado-Torres stared at her through the driver's window.

Peinado-Torres looked down and grabbed his shirt, tugging it until it stretched past his naked groin. Quickly, he tried to button his pants. But it was too late, Parker wrote in an incident report.

Amber Grayson, parked in the Dollar General lot on East Morris Street, had called police at 5:30 p.m. to report that a man was "fooling with himself" in public.

She was with a 12-year-old girl. She told police he pulled up next to them and started masturbating in his car. The child identified Peinado-Torres. He winked at them, they said.

When Parker arrived, she told him to button his pants and get out of the car.

"He did not say anything in clear English," Parker wrote in her report. "He appeared to act like he did not understand."

With the car door open, Parker began to step inside. But Peinado-Torres started the car and began to drive. Parker jumped out of the way.

"I attempted to quickly let go before I was hit," Parker wrote.

Peinado-Torres took off down Morris Street toward Walnut Avenue. According to the report, he drove past a red light and crashed his car into another vehicle before running away.

At the crash scene, Parker saw Peinado-Torres running behind a Walgreens. There, another man named George Fields caught Peinado-Torres and Parker arrested him there.

Charged with child molestation, aggravated assault, leaving the scene of a crime and obstructing law enforcement, Peinado-Torres remained in the Whitfield County Jail on Wednesday.

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at tjett@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6476.

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