Black Friday Fights Break Out Across The Nation [Video]

What’s meant to be a day for shoppers to take advantage of mega savings in numerous stores turned into violent brawls for many people on Black Friday. Walmart stores and malls across the nation that advertised super savings sales resulted in many shoppers battling each other to grab the low-priced merchandise first.

New York Daily News reports that Walmart fights and mall fights in at least two states so far were caught on video. The Kentucky brawl, caught on video at the Mall St. Mathews in Louisville, shows two men fighting in the food court area, although there’s no indication of what started the brawl. As the two men wrestled each other to the ground, they knocked a woman over while punching and slapping each other, until a police officer intervened.

In an El Paso, Texas, Walmart store, a shopper wanting desperately to score a low-priced television, punched a cop in the face after the police officer stopped him from taking the television from another shopper. Another consumer filmed the incident, which shows the swinging shopper being detained and handcuffed on the floor, while a mass of shoppers surrounded him.

In another mall fight in Kentucky, numerous young men, some of whom looked to be teenagers, got into a brawl at the Florence Mall in Florence, allegedly over a pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes. The footage was caught on video by a mall patron who chanted “World Star!” while filming the men slugging, pushing, and tackling each other.

In yet another Walmart brawl, a crowd of shoppers went into a frenzy while trying to grab television sets. Two women battled each other by pulling hair and screaming over the last set until two officers pulled them apart.

One woman, who reportedly snatched the television set from the other woman, was pinned to the ground by two police officers while she shouted, “Stop!” It’s unclear which Walmart store the incident took place in.

Black Friday gained its popularity during the 1960s when retail stores across the country began marking items from a red to black, during a time in which red ink indicated loss, while black ink indicated a profit.

Retailers realized that most people took the day off of work after Thanksgiving, which gave them a chance to shop early for Thanksgiving. Knowing that a profit could be made, retailers began slashing prices on items and opening their store doors early.

Although the idea seemed plausible for retailers, shoppers anticipating the massive price reductions began waiting in long lines outside the stores, often in cold weather. Once they got inside the store, they had to scurry to get the products they wanted before the other consumers beat them to it. This practice, which still occurs today, has turned many eager, early Christmas shoppers into violent brawlers.

So far, this year’s Black Friday incidents are tame in comparison to previous years. In 2008, at a Walmart in Long Island, New York, more than 2,000 people, including children and a pregnant woman, were trampled over as shoppers attempted to rush into the store early. An employee, Jdimytai Damour, 34, tried to control the crowd, but fell down and was trampled to death.

According to fellow Walmart employee, Jimmy Overby, 43, Damour was rushed on by at least 200 people.

“He was bum-rushed by 200 people. They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down, too… I didn’t know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back.”

Numerous petitions have been created online in an attempt to end Black Friday, but the majority of them failed to get enough signatures.

[Photo Courtesy of Kena Betancur/Stringer]