Unruly crowd of almost 300 waiting for Air Jordans pepper sprayed by Ohio police
TOLEDO, Ohio - Police used pepper spray on Wednesday to disperse an unruly crowd of about 300 people lined up at a Toledo, Ohio, mall for an opportunity to buy Air Jordan sneakers.
People began lining up in front of Franklin Park Mall around 3:30 a.m. for tickets passed out by employees of Finish Line, a national shoe chain. The ticket allowed them to buy the Nike Air Jordan Retro 11 Legend Blue, which goes on sale for $200 on Saturday.
"It got pretty crazy," said Toledo police officer P. A. Tatum.
Police spokesman Sergeant Joe Heffernan said the pepper spray was used at about 5:45 a.m. after people knocked down barricades and several officers were knocked to the ground.
December sales of the latest Air Jordans, which are released in limited quantities, has perennially been a source of crowd-related problems at stores around the country.
During the weekend, nearly 50 law enforcement officers were called to a Houston mall after people waiting for their chance for a ticket to buy the shoes got rowdy, according to the KTRK television station, an ABC affiliate.
A representative of Nike was not immediately available for comment.
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