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One of three women accused in party store assault charged with felonies

Posted at 5:00 PM, Apr 25, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-25 23:11:58-04

KENTWOOD, Mich. - One of three women accused of trashing a Kentwood party store and then running over an employee in the parking lot appeared in court Tuesday.

Arendia Ford is accused of being the driver on the night of April 22 at TJ's Party Store on Schaffer Avenue, when she and two friends allegedly trashed the store after an altercation with a manager at the drive-thru window. After leaving the store, she allegedly drove their car over the employee in the parking lot.

Ford is charged with reckless driving, failure to stop at an accident and destruction of property.  The reckless driving count carries a possible penalty of five years in prison if she is convicted.  The judge set her bond at $10,000.

Meanwhile, the victim, 57-year-old Kristina Yoon, is still recovering from her injuries. Family members tell FOX 17 that she will be moving from Spectrum Health to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital soon. She has a broken leg, a broken pelvis, broken teeth and has some bleeding in her brain.

A friend of the Yoon family, Kenneth Rypma, says Yoon made progress on Tuesday. Yoon was able to walk with the help of doctors and has started to talk. The back office of TJ's Party Store is now decorated with flowers, many of them holding messages of support and well wishes for Yoon.

"They appreciate everybody's help with the police, with the news, with people just spreading it on social media to spread the news," said Rypma. "They think that really contributed a lot to having the people come forward for what they did."

The Yoon family says they're happy the women turned themselves in, but want to focus on Kristina's recovery.

"The Yoon family told me they were really relieved that the people responsible for this are going to be served justice for it, but they really want to focus on Kristina's recovery at this point," said Rypma. "They're glad to hear it, but that's not their primary focus at this point."

The other two women accused in the altercations did not appear in court Tuesday.