As Black Friday shoppers stormed into retailers across the country as early as Thursday, videos of chaos, fights and even arrests began to surface on the web.
This video shows a fight break out between two women inside a Wal-Mart. Two officers bring one of the woman to the ground and handcuff her as she continues to resist.
In Claypool Hill, VA, a man was slashed in the arm after he got into a fight with another shopper over a parking spot on Thursday night, the local NBC affiliate reported.
Fights were also spotted outside of Wal-Marts in Southern California, reports LAist. Three fights broke out as early as 7 p.m. yesterday evening at the Wal-Mart in Rialto, Calif. Over 3,000 people lined up outside the store, which was supposed to open around 8 p.m. When the store decided to open early in response to the crowds, people broke out into physical altercations.
One Instagram user posted videos of the fight onto his account:
In spite of the well-documented incidents, Bill Simon, CEO of Wal-Mart’s North American division told reporters the number of altercations was down from last year.
This year, Wal-Mart issued wristbands to shoppers looking for doorbuster items; the wristbands allowed people to come back in two hours to pick up their items, preventing mobs inside the stores, reports Bloomberg. But still, at a Wal-Mart in Garfield, New Jersey, one woman was arrested for spitting at another woman and hitting the woman’s child.
Additional reporting by Andrea Park.