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One shopper, taken into custody, misses his
chance for the collectable Air Jordan XI sneaker. (Staten Island
Advance/ Bill Lyons)
Big turnout for Air Jordan XI gallery (5 photos)
Police officers forcibly removed Vicenzo Gavrity, of Huguenot, from near the front of the line at about 10:30 p.m., and charged him with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration, according to court papers.
Officers observed Gavrity allegedly “raise his fists toward another” unidentified male while standing in the crowd as he advanced toward him “yelling and cursing,” according to court papers.
As the police moved barricades and entered the crowd to grab Gavrity, he tried to get away from the approaching officers as he “struggled and flailed his arms,” and yelled “[Expletive] you, I’m getting my shoes,” court papers allege.
Sneaker madness at the Staten Island Mall
At one point Police and
mall security struggle to maintain control over the thousands who were
awaiting the midnight release of the new Air Jordan sneakers.
Watch video
The scene at the mall turned ugly around 7:30 p.m. when the first thousand people in line discovered that tickets handed out earlier by a Great Kills resident thought to hold their spot as they waited hours in line for the sneaker release did not guarantee them anything since the man was not associated with the mall.
As word spread that the tickets were meaningless, hundreds from the back of the line charged to the front, and the mayhem culminated with Gavrity’s arrest.
Many people blamed poor planning for resulting in the hoopla at the Mall.
The turnout was larger than mall officials had originally planned for, said David Albertson, a spokesman for the Mall.
“We always have a plan in place,” Albertson explained. “The turn out was just more than we anticipated.”
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