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In case you were feeling all warm and fuzzy about humanity as the holiday season approaches, people can be terrible when there are perceived bargains to be had. Are you debating whether or not to venture out for Black Friday sales? History tells us that you should do so at your own risk.
Even if they’re incredibly crowded, stores aren’t always chaotic on the day after Thanksgiving. Then again, some doorbuster deals inevitably spark scenes of madness. It seems like every year there are stories about stampedes or brawls breaking out as deal-hungry shoppers scramble to score the limited quantities of the season’s big-ticket items.
>>Visit our special coverage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
To make sure you know what you might be getting into when you line up outside a store hours before it opens, we compiled some of the most absurd incidents from past Black Fridays. These are among some of the worst stories to come from Black Friday in recent years, but there’s no shortage of YouTube compilations and Vines documenting the brawls and stampedes that happen all over the country each Black Friday.
In 2011, a woman used pepper spray "to gain preferred access to a variety of locations" in a Los Angeles Walmart, the L.A. Times reported. A captain from the fire department described it as "competitive shopping." The woman injured 20 people, including children. That year, the deals included $5 Bratz dolls, $10 Wii video games and $29 tricycles, according to the Times report.
Sometimes, people don't even make it into the store before violence breaks out. In Claypool Hill, Va., in 2013, an argument between two men over a Walmart parking space during Black Friday shopping ended in a stabbing, WVVA reported. As the two fought over the space, one allegedly threatened the other with a firearm before stabbing him in the arm. The knife reportedly cut the man's arm down to the bone. Both men were arrested.
Police reportedly slammed a man face-first into the ground after he hid a video game under his shirt during a Black Friday sale at an Arizona Walmart in 2011, CNN reported. Jerald Newman, 54, was trying to keep other shoppers from taking the game, his grandson recounted, when the police officer confronted him. A shopper recorded video of Newman apparently unconscious and face-down in a pool of blood, and the incident resulted in an investigation of the arrest.
