Posted on 11/25/2005 2:01:37 PM PST by paulat
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.
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(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
----People who go out on Black friday, knowing (unless you have lived under a rock) that there will be mobs pushing and shoving, get no sympathy. If you can't handle it, stay at home.Did she think because she was older that they would part the crowd like the Red Sea , and let her walk through?
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