Less than an hour after Miranda was struck, police at 5:15 p.m. were called to the Conoco gas station in the 100 block of 1st Street in West Des Moines for a woman creating a disturbance and using racial slurs, court records show.
Franklin was arrested and charged with assault, operating under the influence, theft and public intoxication, court records show. Hate charges are also being considered in this case, West Des Moines Police Sgt. Dan Wade said.
Kevin Reed, 53, said he was checking out at the gas station when he saw Franklin throwing potato chips, destroying merchandise and calling people names. He said Franklin appeared to be "on something."
Waheed Abdul, 57, co-owns the Conoco with his brother. He wasn't working the day of Franklin's arrest but said surveillance footage showed Franklin targeting his brother with racial slurs.
Abdul said the footage from Dec. 9 showed Franklin in the store for more than 20 minutes. He said she pocketed a container of ice cream and threw items from the counter at his brother, whom police said was not injured in the incident.
Some of the store's customers, including Reed, stayed with Abdul's brother until police arrived out of fear that Franklin would injure him, he said.
Franklin told responding officers that she was under the influence of drugs, records indicate. Police said she "was fidgety and had dilated pupils consistent with drug use."
In February 2018, Franklin was charged with harassment and domestic abuse assault after she bit her boyfriend and threw something that struck him in the back of the neck, according to a criminal complaint. During the confrontation, Franklin picked up a butcher’s knife and repeatedly said she would kill her boyfriend, the complaint said.
Her boyfriend told police she was off her medicine, but Franklin told police that she was not in any mental state that needed medication.
