Posted on 12/27/2011 12:25:17 PM PST by BenLurkin
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Fists flew and so did a few chairs during a large-scale brawl at the Mall of America Monday.
"Anytime you have a large group of people together things can happen," said Commander Mark Stehlik with Bloomington Police. "But this is highly unusual."
Shortly after 4 p.m., authorities confirm more than 20 individuals started fighting in the north food court. Cellphone video uploaded to YouTube shows dozens of young people watching while some push, punch, and even throw chairs. At that same time, police say several other fights flared up in other places of the mall.
"There were drinks thrown on the floor and chairs being thrown everywhere," said Tess Dessalgne who witnessed the brawl. "Everyone started running towards the fight."
There are no reports of anyone seriously hurt, but Bloomington Police along with Mall of America security arrested nine individuals for disorderly conduct. Some of those arrested were juveniles.
"At one point we had over 30 officers involved," said Commander Stehlik. "What we tried to do was push people out of the mall in an effort to get this disturbance under control."
No official lockdown of the mall occurred, but some stores did close their doors until order was restored.
A statement from the Mall of America call this incident "unfortunate especially during the holidays." The statement went on to say, "As with any incident we will review our security efforts and continue to work closely with Bloomington Police to see if any changes are required."
Its those Swedish grandmothers again?
Ok, lets see; scratch Mall of America off my list of places to visit.
oh those amish...
“Anytime you have a large group of people together things can happen,”
Especially if they are Amish.
I think the riot was over the playing of the wrong Kwanza carrols.
It’s not the amish,
It’s Holders people.
It’s obammy’s people.
Well, the strongly-parented young thugs are out for the holidays, huh? Young leaders-of-tomorrow jus’ hangin’, doncha’ kno’; waitin’ to thump some young stud with some new Jordans.
It's funny that this should be mentioned. I was talking about this very thing with my family over Christmas....
I went to the local mall one evening a few weeks ago. It's the "wrong" mall - if you know what I mean - but it's the only one that had what I wanted. I figured that I'd be OK.
I was. BUT....and you knew that the 'but' was coming.... there was plenty of utes there. It wasn't a very diverse group, either. Not too many of them looked like me.
Did I have a problem? Nope. Walked in, bought what I wanted, and walked out.
However, I've never seen so many people standing around and watching. Waiting. Watching and Waiting for what? I'm not sure, but the tension was palpable. No problems - but - there was an awful lot of hoping for some. Just one small spark and the whole place would have gone off.
I felt the same way about 20 years ago, when I was lost in East St. Louis after dark. Dozens of people standing around and watching and waiting, there, too. And, I, I'm certain that I could have been shot, killed, stripped naked, and left in the street....and not a one of them would have seen a thing.
The only time I go to the mall is on a Sunday morning.. and that’s about once a year.
“I’m certain that I could have been shot, killed, stripped naked, and left in the street...”
Ever see that Cornell Wilde movie, “The Naked Prey”?
Funny how some things don’t change.
We used to have a mall called Northridge. I was new here and did not understand how things were there. I remember pulling my little boy into an alcove to protect him when the “yutes” started rushing down the center of the mall. We were upstairs, but I knew they could be up there quickly. Got out of there fast. Only went there a few times after that and without my child. The gangs got their way. People stopped going there and it was razed. Now, all the malls have the under 17 rule. Mayfair mall has had to deal with a lot of these folks. I don’t go there anymore either.
If those Blart type characters on Mall Cops hadn’t already convinced you to stay away.......
It’s times like these that I REALLY have regrets for slavery. If their own people hadn’t sold their ancestors off in Africa, to be shipped over here, right now they’d be running for their lives with a cheetah on their arses. If they hadn’t died of starvation or AIDS already. I still don’t know why the distant ancestors of slaves are so pissy about it. For them, they should be grateful.
True, true, Cdr. Stehlik. I was at church last week with several hundred people, most from Mexico and Central America, and the most raucous Charismatic prayer meeting broke out.
There are a lot of ways I might describe this incident, but calling it “highly unusual” isn’t one of them.
“Anytime you have a large group of people together things can happen,”
Yeah, like at the Tea Parties... oops, bad example...
Perhaps some “fill in the blank” is in order...
“Anytime you have a large group of [ ] people together things happen,”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.