I remember the original Coleco Cabbage Patch Kids and the horrible demand for these stupid, butt-ugly dolls. My mother had to get one for my baby sister, who ultimately pitched a horrifying screaming fit because she wanted one with a certain type of hair and my mom got the only one she was able to find (Hey, she was three at the time and she’s turned out to be a pretty swell person, so all is forgiven!). Unfortunately, Americans continue to be animals. From The Seattle Times:
Audio-enhanced chatter captured on a cellphone video posted on YouTube and interviews with witnesses offer some hints.
The video shows a police officer crouching by a 6-foot-5-inch, 270-pound man lying at the entrance of the Long Island Wal-Mart. A paramedic pumps the man’s chest so forcefully his limp legs and feet joggle. Shoppers peer from behind glass doors or stand a few feet away, hands in pockets.
“They need to shock him,” a voice says.
The paramedic stops pumping. The man’s shirt has been pulled to his neck, revealing his belly. A woman in the crowd mutters, “Pregnant.”
Another cracks a joke.
The women laugh.
Pop Pop, who was afraid to give his full name, remembered Damour telling him, “I don’t want to be here.”
Across the entrance lobby, eight men, younger than Pop Pop, guarded the door closest to the crowd. Pop Pop remembered someone telling Damour to move to that side.
By 3:30 a.m., the crowd had grown to 2,000. The line heaved and swayed. Above their heads, people passed a plastic shopping cart from hand to hand, like at a rock concert.
“It got scary out of nowhere,” Augustine recalled. “The crowd in the back just pushed.”
Someone yanked Augustine’s pocketbook off her shoulder and ripped the side of her leather coat.
A woman pushed Jones, who said back to her: “We can’t move!” She felt someone punch her left temple. The force knocked off her glasses.
Sgro fell to the ground; her right arm was broken. She telephoned her mother, Therese, telling her, “We were attacked.”
Her mother called 911 and raced to the scene with her husband, Robert Sgro, a firefighter. They got there when police arrived. Therese Sgro told an officer, “Can’t you see the crowd is out of control?”
She said he replied sarcastically: “I’m surprised we haven’t heard gunshots yet.”
Police stayed about a half-hour. Jones and the Sgros left. Meanwhile, Augustine was in line, struggling to breathe. Wal-Mart workers kept yelling at the crowd: “Move back 4 feet!”
No one did.
Tags: 1983, animals, Black Friday, Cabbage Patch Kids, Tickle Me Elmo, Walmart
December 9th, 2008 at 2:04 am
I didn’t know they had those crazy “hospitals” for the Cabbage Patch Kids. I do remember that my sister got one of the dolls, though.
December 9th, 2008 at 2:15 am
There’s still the main one (Babyland General) in Cleveland, GA. I’ve never been there, but my oldest daughter had to work at the tree festival when she was in high school, and she was assigned to cover the Babyland General booth and she was given one of the “babies” and was told to carry it around, talk to it, and show it to people as if it were a real infant. Pretty darn freaky if you ask me.
http://www.cabbagepatchkids.com/