Woman, 73, says she was knocked down, stepped on during 'Black Friday' at Sawgrass Mills
A fellow shopper reaches down to help Josephine Hoffman, 73, as the crowd behind her pushes through and rushes past security guards. Several people went down during the commotion. Crowds gathered at Brandsmart at the Sawgrass Mills Mall where the doors op
"Black Friday," the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, began in South Florida early today with a 73-year-old woman being knocked down as a crowd at an electronics store rushed a metal security gate to get inside.
The crowd of shoppers outside BrandsMart USA in Sawgrass Mills, angry at being forced to wait by security personnel, pushed their way under the security gate and down a hallway into the store, forcing dozens of people against the walls and trampling the woman.
"I was trying to get out of the way, but they knocked me down," said Josephine Hoffman of Coconut Creek, who was standing immediately outside the gate as a human wave rushed inside, carrying her along.
"I hit my head on the floor, and people stepped on me," said the woman, who was resting on a box of merchandise inside the store following the 7:30 a.m. incident. "I don't understand why people do these things."...
