Holiday Shoppers Beat, Trample Each Other

All I can say is people are ****ing retarded. Be proud, America!!

Shoppers Storm Stores; Officers Stop Fights

POSTED: 6:42 am EST November 25, 2005
UPDATED: 7:13 am EST November 26, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando police officers were called to break up some fights between shoppers early Friday as Central Floridians flocked to stores for one of the busiest shopping days of the year, according to Local 6 News.

Line jumpers at a Best Buy at the Fashion Square Mall apparently started a fight at around 11:30 p.m. Officers responded and there were no arrests.

However, one person may be arrested for starting a fight at a Wal-Mart in east Orange County early Friday.

Some shoppers waited for as long as seven hours to be the first in the doors for bargains.

The day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday" because traditionally it's seen as the day most retailers go into the "black" and start earning a profit for the year.

"I am looking for a plasma TV," Central Florida shopper Laura Campbell said. "I can get it for $287 instead of $700."

Local 6 News showed video of store shelves already empty.

According to a national survey, 64 percent of people polled said they plan to shop Friday.

Robust Holidays Sales Expected

The economy in Florida is the healthiest in the nation," said Rick McAllister, president of the Florida Retail Federation, which said Wednesday that retailers expect sales this holiday season to increase by more than 6 percent over last Christmas.

"Unemployment rates are the lowest that we've seen in three decades and job growth is double in Florida what it is across the nation," McAllister said.

The situation is good all around.

The National Retail Federation recently increased its projections for sales growth over last year's Christmas to 6 percent, after having earlier forecast a 5 percent rise.

Recent reductions in energy prices that may lead to more job growth may boost sales, economists say.

In Florida, the typical adult plans to spend about $775 on holiday gifts, food and decorations, according to a Retail Federation survey -- about five percent more than people in comparable national surveys.

Florida's unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent in October -- its strongest showing in nearly three decades -- and 253,000 new jobs were added over the year.

The Retail Federation survey also found that the gift people most want this year is a gift card or gift certificate -- the first time that's ever been the leading wish-list item.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Early Morning Shoppers Pepper Sprayed At Beaumont Wal-Mart
( Air Date: 11/25/2005 )
Early morning shoppers at Beaumont’s Wal-Mart say they were pepper sprayed by an off-duty police officer working security as a large crowd gathered in the electronics department of the store.

“There were some people trying to break thru the crowds because they were throwing up, and couldn`t breathe,” said one shopper, Andrenette Davis, “It was pretty bad.”

The incident took place on what is often called “Black Friday,” a day retailers open their doors early to hundreds, sometimes thousands, looking for early holiday bargains.

Numerous customers inside the store at the time tell KBTV the crowd gathered in the electronics department and some customers began shoving others. Witnesses say a Beaumont police officer - identified by the Beaumont Police Department as Officer Avie Ownby - told the crowd to back up. They say the officer then pulled out his can of pepper spray and sprayed it into the crowd. Sergeant Dean Crooks with the Beaumont Police Department tells KBTV they are investigating the incident, but that they investigate any incident where an officer uses force. He says Officer Ownby is a 20 year veteran of the force.

According to those inside the store, the pepper spray hit adults and children and several employees. One woman says she fell and chipped her tooth on the ground.

“It has no harmful effects,” said Sergeant Mike Earney of the Beaumont Police Department, “it focuses your attention from being aggressive to wanting to take care of the problem on yourself.”

Several of the customers received medical attention by EMS in the parking lot. None were taken by ambulance to hospitals, but several of the customers told KBTV reporter Lydia Joseph they would drive themselves to area hospitals.

KBTV contacted the store’s managers and Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters for comment but we were told the Beaumont Police Department was handling the investigation and that there would be no comment from the company surrounding the incident.

Woman, 73, says she was knocked down, stepped on during 'Black Friday' at Sawgrass Mills

By Joseph Mann
Sun-Sentinel
Posted November 25 2005, 9:26 AM EST

"Black Friday," the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, began in South Florida early today with a 73-year-old woman being knocked down as a crowd at an electronics store rushed a metal security gate to get inside.

The crowd of shoppers outside BrandsMart USA in Sawgrass Mills, angry at being forced to wait by security personnel, pushed their way under the security gate and down a hallway into the store, forcing dozens of people against the walls and trampling the woman.

"I was trying to get out of the way, but they knocked me down," said Josephine Hoffman of Coconut Creek, who was standing immediately outside the gate as a human wave rushed inside, carrying her along.

"I hit my head on the floor, and people stepped on me," said the woman, who was resting on a box of merchandise inside the store following the 7:30 a.m. incident. "I don't understand why people do these things."

A store manager asked whether she needed medical attention and called for assistance, while Hoffman's two daughters phoned the police.

The incident came as shoppers lined up all over South Florida for Black Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season and the second-busiest shopping day of the year, after the Saturday before Christmas.

A woman at a Pembroke Pines Wal-Mart was also injured and required hospital treatment when she was pushed to the ground by another shopper, according to fire officials.

Shopping crowds were reported to be large around the United States because many retailers offered deep discounts, hoping to spur consumer buying amid an uncertain national economy.

Moments before the crowd burst under the metal gate at BrandsMart , Tony McLeod, another BrandsMart manager, tried to calm down shoppers, telling them the store could only allow groups of about 20 to enter the store at one time to avoid overcrowding.

BrandsMart personnel tried to keep the total number of shoppers in the store to about 500 to meet fire department regulations, he said.

"There is more than enough for everybody. The sale is going on all day," he shouted as frustrated shoppers shouted back, complaining they were tired of waiting.

"We have your money out here," one woman responded angrily. "We need to go to other stores. I can't stand here all day."

One man shouted through the gate that he had been waiting for an hour and half. A woman from Brazil, nearly in tears, asked in Portuguese whether she could be allowed inside because her husband was already there. Others complained that security personnel lowered the metal door and left them isolated from family members.

Inside the store, shoppers were calmer. There were a few hundred people inside since the store opened, but the aisles were not crowded and most of those inside were waiting patiently in long lines to reach one of the store's 17 cashiers.

People began lining up at BrandsMarts two entrances before 4 a.m. Friday, hoping to snag some of the doorbuster specials or hundreds of other discounted items. "We came in about 4:45, and there were already lines," said Cosmo Adamo, the general manager.

By 6 a.m., when the store opened, hundreds of people waited in long lines snaking around the building outside the main entrance, which faces a Sawgrass Mills parking lot, and at the mall entrance.

Trampled shoppers released from the hospital

(UPDATE, Cascade Township, November 25, 2005, 7:00 p.m.) It was a dangerous morning on Black Friday at a West Michigan Wal-Mart. Now, corporate representatives are responding to what happened.

An impatient crowd stormed the doors in the mad rush to get to those door-buster deals inside.

It was an ugly scene when the doors opened at the Cascade Township Wal-Mart. Hundreds of shoppers pushed and shoved their way into the store, trampling a number of customers, sending two to the hospital.

At 5:00 a.m. the doors opened, holiday shoppers rushed in, and immediately one customer is pushed to the ground.

"This is ridiculous. I do not want my life in danger for this," said shopper Karen Dietstra. "This is not worth it. This has been a tradition for years. I don't think that I have to get beat up to try to get a sale."

Two shoppers from Grand Rapids did. One of them, 13-year-old Deja McHerron, had to be taken away by ambulance.

"They stumbled over a pregnant lady and Deja was trying to help her get up. And they stumbled over her and they stepped on her back. And now she's going to the hospital," said McHerron's mother, Deborah.

Duretha Arnold-Youngblood, 37, was also taken to the hospital, complaining of an injured knee. Both were released from the hospital after being treated.

"It was really terrifying. If my husband wasn't there to cover me, I would not be home. Those people would have stepped on my back. They didn't care. It was bad," Arnold-Youngblood said.

Her husband, Johnny Youngblood, took issue with what he calls a lack of security. Youngblood believes Wal-Mart should hire trained uniformed security guards to help bring order to the early-morning holiday crowd and not leave those duties to Wal-Mart associates.

"They didn't have no security at all," said McHerron's sister, Sierra.

"Wal-Mart did not do enough to protect us," Dietstra said.

WalMart corporate spokesperson Marty Heires tells 24 Hour News 8 that the incident is regrettable.

Heires says that of the 3800 Walmart stores nationwide, there's trouble at only a handful of them during after-Thanksgiving shopping.

The spokesperson stressed such problems are rare, but that some stores do hire extra security for crowd control. He did not know if that was the case in Cascade Township. He did say there was staff outside directing the crowds and that next week managers will debrief the situation and assess if they could make changes to prevent it from happening again.

24 Hour News 8 wanted to explore what measures other retailers take as well.

A Meijer spokesperson says the day after Thanksgiving, they add extra sales staff but not additional security. Even with those early hour sales incentives, Meijer doesn't see those big crowds line up at closed doors because their doors are open 24 hours a day.

Managers at Best Buy tell us they began preparing for this day a week ahead. They plan where to put sale items, rope off space for lines, and assigning staff to mix with the early morning crowd an hour before doors open. They hand out coffee and doughnuts and tickets for popular items to reduce the urgency for shoppers.

"They're preselling things so you can get things you want now, so you're not so stressed out about being first in line. It controls the crowds. They know they have their items so they don't have to push and shove. They're directed where they need to be and it all flows very smoothly," Best Buy manager Bob Rose said.

 

Way to go America.

My black friday consisted off sitting on my ass watching james bond all day.

 

Here's some video:

http://www.wftv.com/news/5402525/detail.html
http://video.woodtv.com/index.php?video_id=1837

RMX

 

Thought that was WTFTV ..lol


Man pple can go crazy for sales..

 

Let the lawsuits begin.

 

The gears of the wheels of commerce are spinning...and running over people!
Is this a great country or what? Consider this, whereas in America shoppers and fighting over plasma displays, in other parts of the world shoppers are knocking each other over for toilet paper or that last can of SPAM!

 

Sorry but I was watching the news last night when they showed the hefty set black woman fall over & loose her wig. I could'nt stop laughing for 5 minutes.

 

Yeah its great to see these people really understand Christ's message of love LOL

 

LOFL!! The sad part is that is my local NBC station reporting that story from about 25 miles from my house.

 

This is why i stayed at work until 11 last night... i was scared when i went out for lunch yesterday afternoon...

 

I noticed that in the video too! HILARIOUS!

Another wierd part was one of the victim's last names... "Youngblood" Erm, what?

 

Black and Blue Friday

 

$287 for a plasma TV?! Whoa, get the hell out of my way!!!

 

I run the security for the Walmarts down here in the county----that **** dont happen down here. We line them up single file all the way around the building and tell anyone in line to let us know if someone trys to cut in. The people who stand in line for long periods will rat out any line cutters quick.Then we escort them off the property. Only one entrance open at first and no standing in the parking lot. Either stand in line or sit in your car in the parking lot. Those people not in line cant get in the store until the line is finished getting in.....Being doing the stores down here for 5 years so we have it down to a science---no problems. The first person in line for Friday 5am opening got there at 10pm Thanksgiving night...7 hrs to get a frifggin laptop.

 

I suppose the economic priciple of 'opportunity cost' is lost on these people. 7 Hours in line to save a few bucks and then getting trampled while doing it...Those people who were the troublemakers should be beaten with sticks like the animals they are.

 

Its nuts.

I remember when I was a kid and my parents couldnt find me a nintendo at XMas. The local KMart advertised they were getting some the day after XMas so my parents brought me at 6am (opened at 8) and we were about the 3rd people in line. We got in and got to the electronics area, and people just started mobbing. The guys were giving them to people who were there first and some lady literally grabbed the nintendo out of my hands when I was turning and walking away from the electronics counter. I was 10 years old at the time and I didnt even see who did it. I was in tears and some people started really getting upset about it.

What I woudlnt give to go back to that day and beat that broad senseless

285, sounds like you guys do it right. I *HATE* people who are so rude and will just cross people to get themselves ahead. Cutting in line is tantamount to stealing. THey are stealing time from everyone who waited.

I personally wouldnt wait in line to save a few bucks, but some people enjoy it and the stores *really* need to handle it in the right way with security and professionalism.

 

I always wonder about these great deals. Are they good quality products such as the Plasma? I know Wal-Mart had laptops on sale for like $400 or something? Are they good quality? With computers, you need to investment a good amount to get a computer that won't be outdated in one or two years. Also, how does Wal-Mart support them in terms of service, ect? How good are these "deals"? I just have a hard time thinking of buying an expensive item at Wal-Mart. Maybe it's just me.

Anyways, we should also be happy. Great for the economy, be the ones to find ways to capitalize off this.

 

The entire spirit of all of the holidays at this time of year gets completely lost in the shopping craze... It's unfathomably shallow in that, all of these people are essentially vying to "give" to people, whilst they spend the next month trampling OTHER people... Pretty ironic...

 

I watched UT vs Texas A&M. Great game.

There might be one really good deal, but it's not worth waiting 7 hours (in the cold).

 

The $400 laptops at WalMart are HPs. They are sold at, or even below cost, but serve the important marketing purpose of getting people into the stores.

 

Nothing like the Big 12 football Friday games (as well as the traditional LSU-Arkansas game). Screw waiting in line. I'm sure if you keep your eyes peeled during the year, you can find similar deals.

 

...which is why I've stopped giving gifts a long time ago. As my father has always told us "we are lacking nothing".

 

What do you say to those people who want to give something to you...?

 

Let me rephrase...for the most part, we (the people in my circle) have stopped exchanging gifts. We get far more pleasure from reuniting and sitting down to a good meal, with some good wine...you get the picture. If any gifts are given, it's usually for the youngins'.

For instance, as far as my wife and I are concerned, if we really want something, we just go out and buy it. We don't wait for Christmas. You never know....Christmas may not come around for some of us.

 

i see... Not a bad idea...