A crowd rushes through as the gates are opened at the Richmond International Raceway complex in Richmond, Va., Tuesday. All were hoping to get a used Apple iBook for $50.
Posted on 08/16/2005 3:28:45 PM PDT by I still care
RICHMOND, Va. - A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.
¡°This is total, total chaos,¡± said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost one of her flip-flops in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare.
An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299.
Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene.
People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl¡¯s stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.
Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m.
"It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County. "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event it almost has an entertainment value." (excerpt)
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
A crowd rushes through as the gates are opened at the Richmond International Raceway complex in Richmond, Va., Tuesday. All were hoping to get a used Apple iBook for $50.
Cabbage Patch Kids.
I guess $50 was not the market-clearing price.
LOL!
Look at blue shirt sandel guy. I have a feeling he got one.
Stampede.
Selling 4 year old laptops. No wonder school taxes are so high. They could have given them to our school since our district can't afford those we were promised two years ago.
Check out the video on site. Looks a little frightening.
Step on a kook all for a used IBook.
At least these laptops won't get the ZOTOB virus...
Yeah they could have probably gotten $75 each easily.
The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents.
Lots 'o Lawsuits to follow, I'm guessing.
animals.
Sounds like a PC sale at the ECW arena!
"Injuries suffered, liability incurred, and far less revenue raised than if they hired a geek to put them on eBay."
They were free, the government provided them, so that fifty bucks was all profit. They were just trying to help out the community by offering them for fifty bucks. Only a heartless conservative would have put them on ebay to price them out of the hands of the poor.
(How'd that sound?)
Reading this, I thought what country was this in? I'm disappointed to see it was here.
Speaking as a Henrico County taxpayer, we're going to end up being the losers in all this. The county only received $50,000 for the sale--1,000 laptops at a flat $50 per. Take out the expense for the rental of a facility at RIR, the advertising that was done, the time spent by the school system personnel to process the sale, the FIVE off-duty cops hired for security and the 40 more that had to get called in, including police in riot gear...and then add on the probable lawsuits that the county will have to deal with because the whole operation was a total and complete cluster-youknowwhat. Think $50k will cover all that? Me neither.
My wife tried to go out there and wisely turned around; my boss was out there shortly after 5:00 am and swears there were already thousands of people there. The estimate being thrown around now is 5,500, but some official sources say that 11,000 to 12,000 might be closer.
And the worst part? It could've been a WORSE circus. The county Board of Supervisors actually changed the law a few weeks ago so that only Henrico County residents and/or taxpayers could buy the laptops. You had to have proof of residency before you could plunk down your $50 and walk off with a four-year-old, hard-traveled iBook. Before that, there were no restrictions except "one per person"; Apple message boards were humming with people talking about driving hours, or even flying cross-country, to come here and get one of the things. And they originally planned to do the sale at their county warehouse. Trying to cram 5,500 people down there *would* have caused a riot, a real one.
This was the miniature version of what might've been. Not that it isn't bad enough, mind you. Right now, I'm embarassed to admit that I live here.
}:-)4
Stop by the neighborhood pawn shops tomorrow and see how many 4 year-old Apple iBooks are for sale.
Wealth redistribution by bureacrats. 'Twasn't their money to give away...
Typical stewardship at government agencies!
That was excellent, you had me going into ZOT mode. Lucky for you, I called off the kitty snipers at the last second.
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