A $200 sneaker and a restless crowd caused a kerfuffle outside Franklin Park Mall on Wednesday morning.
About 200 people gathered outside the mall before 4 a.m. vying for a chance to buy the new Nike Air Jordan Retro “Legend Blue” shoe. As the crowd grew, mall security called for Toledo police back-up at 3:50 a.m. and on-scene officers established a perimeter with yellow tape. Mall officials brought in additional barricades to keep the crowd organized and under control.
Someone at the back of the crowd began pushing other people at about 5:45 a.m., about 15 minutes before the shoe tickets were to become available at Finish Line, and the crowd became agitated. People broke through the police tape and barricade and “overran officers,” according to a Toledo police incident report. The report also states that officers were “knocked to the ground and enveloped by the crowd” prompting the use of pepper spray and pepper balls.
Pepper spray is a liquid chemical agent that is generally deployed from a small canister. Pepper balls are small spheres fired from a “gun,” and allow the chemical agent to travel over a greater distance. Once a pepper ball strikes a person or an object — the equivalent of being hit with a paint ball — the pepper spray inside is released.
Officers received scratches and bruises, but no serious injuries to officers or anyone in the crowd were reported. No arrests were made.
Police said officers on scene were concentrated on dispersing the crowd so no arrests were made. Investigators are “reviewing evidence” and if anyone who was found to be pushing or antagonizing the crowd can be identified, charges could be filed, Sgt. Joe Heffernan said.
Jeremiah Fletcher, 19, who was waiting in line, said police fired pepper spray about three to four times. People fell down after the incident, he said, but he did not see anyone seriously hurt as a result.
The shoe goes on sale Saturday.
Similar ticket distributions have created issues with crowds in cities elsewhere.
Staff writer Mike Sigov contributed to this report.
Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.
First Published December 18, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
