RICHMOND, Va. - Chaotic scenes prevailed at the Richmond International Raceway where thousands of people turned up in the hope of grabbing one of the 1,000 used laptops that went on sale for an unprecedented $50 here today. Organizers were taken by surprise as an estimated 5,500 people showed up at the sale.
Their surprise quickly turned into dismay and shock as bedlam erupted and the situation quickly got out of control. Police were called in to control the crowd and in the ensuing stampede people got thrown out onto the streets and children got crushed in between adults as the mob showed no signs of calming down.
The sale officially began at 7 a.m., but some people had already started making a beeline for the laptops and dozens had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. At least seventeen people suffered some minor injuries and four of them required treatment in a hospital as officials tried in vain to control the rogue crowd. Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County was surprised that a computer sale had the potential to cause such damage, "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event — it almost has an entertainment value," he commented.
Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said that an old gentleman was forcibly pushed onto the pavement while a man tried to drive his car into the crowds. He added that the police had made no arrests since it seemed to be a on the spur of the moment situation and was not deliberately planned.
The Henrico County school system had put up around a thousand used 4-year-old Apple iBooks for sale at the price of $50. It is a matter of common knowledge that iBooks cost anywhere between $999 and $1,299. At $50 it must have appeared to county residents as if the tooth fairy was visiting them. The demand for laptops has only soared in recent times as technology has made the task easier. The 1,000 iBooks that went on sale on Tuesday had been used by the high school students in the county and are being replaced by the state-of-the-art Dell systems.
