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Black Friday Marred by Trampling and Thefts

By Jack Phillips
Epoch Times Staff
Created: November 26, 2010 Last Updated: November 29, 2010
Related articles: United States » National News
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BLACK FRIDAY: Shoppers crowd a Best Buy store at dawn during Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving which commences the holiday gift-buying season on November 26 in Naples, Florida. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

BLACK FRIDAY: Shoppers crowd a Best Buy store at dawn during Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving which commences the holiday gift-buying season on November 26 in Naples, Florida. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Black Friday has become notable for its deals and notorious for instances of human stampedes, thefts, and fights. Black Friday 2010 was no different.

In West Palm Beach, Fla., three women told a CNN affiliate that around $1,000 worth of merchandise from Best Buy had been stolen from their vehicle early Friday morning right after they had made the purchases.

The women reportedly placed the items in their car and went to a JCPenney store and soon after their items were gone.

In an incident across the country in Cerritos, Calif., (outside of Los Angeles), a half-dozen men got into a melee at the food court at the Los Cerritos Shopping Center at around 2:30 a.m., according to a report from the Associated Press. Deputies said that the men ran off and knocked over chairs.

An hour and a half later, police were called to Hemet, Calif., and had to break up an argument between shoppers in two separate lines, AP reported.

In Sacramento, Calif. a Walmart had to be evacuated after shoppers got too anxious and started to shove other shoppers and security personnel in the electronics section, according to News10, an ABC affiliate.

"People were pushing and shoving when they got [to] the camera and computer aisle," shopper Joe Gonzales told the TV station. "They had a little roped off area and when they clipped it at 5 a.m., people started fighting."

In a more extreme incident, several shoppers were trampled in the morning at a Target store in North Buffalo, N.Y. Overly-eager shoppers piled on top of each other as they attempted to get into the store when it first opened, WIVB-TV in Buffalo reported.

"It went from controlled to a mob in less than five minutes and it just got nasty,” a shopper told WIVB-TV. One person had to be taken to the hospital due to the incident.




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