Louisiana teen in bikini attacked by catcallers with pipe
Jessica Byrnes-Laird said she has to relearn to smile after the ordeal.
A Louisiana teen said she has to relearn to smile after her top lip was nearly ripped from her face while wearing a bikini in an attack by catcallers.
After a day of swimming, Jessica Byrnes-Laird, 18, sat in a car in her bathing suit outside a Shreveport convenience store Sunday night.
A group of men began harassing her as her boyfriend was in the store, the couple said. When her beau came outside, he and the men fought, KTSB reported.
As the boyfriend broke away from the scuffle, one of the four men threw a brass pipe through the open passenger door window, striking Byrnes-Laird right in the mouth, she said.
“I looked down and saw my teeth in my hand and I immediately gushed blood,” she told NBC 6.
Between 10 and 12 teeth were knocked out of her mouth, which is completely stitched up, her grandpa Earl Byrnes told the Daily News.
“Right now, she’s real sore and can’t eat or nothing,” he said.
Roberta Stark/via GoFundMe
Jessica Byrnes-Laird said she was catcalled while wearing a bikini after a day of swimming with her boyfriend, Jared Pelletier.
Roberta Stark/via GoFundMe
Jessica Byrnes-Laird, 18, had ten broken teeth and stitches after a gang of teenagers catcalled her for wearing a bikini and threw a pipe into the car she traveled in with her boyfriend. The Haughton, Louisiana teenager had half her top lip ripped from her face.
Byrnes-Laird will require surgery and multiple tooth implants, which can cost up to $12,000, according to a GoFundMe page.
Police said they are still searching for her attackers.
The teen “is a very bright, sweet, kind-hearted 18-year-old woman,” her boyfriend’s mom, Roberta Stark, wrote.
Byrnes-Laird, of Haughton, is “coming around” after her terrible ordeal, her grandpa said.
“Getting my smile back is something to look forward to,” the teen said.
