Violence broke out in Pasadena Calif. On Thursday night after a man's plan to hire people from a local homeless shelter to wait in line for the new iPhone 5S backfired on him when he tried to get away without paying the homeless people.
Dozens of people were recruited at a downtown Los Angeles homeless shelter to buy iPhones in bulk at a Pasadena store but were left unpaid and mobbed the man who hired them, according to Pasadena police LT. Jason Clawson. The Washington Post reports that one of the homeless men in question was placed on a 72-hour mental health hold after running into the street in an enraged state.
Dominoe Moody, 43, told the Los Angeles Times that he was driven 10 miles or so to Pasadena from L.A. with several vanloads of other people to wait in line overnight for the release of Apple's new device.
"It didn't go right. I stood out here all night," said Moody to the newspaper, adding that he had no way to get back to Los Angeles. Moody was promised $40 for his time but said he wasn't paid after handing the man an iPhone.
The man who hired Moody and the rest of the homeless people, whose name was not released to the public, likely for his own safety, was seen clutching a bag filled with iPhones when he was attacked by the mob that he tried to avoid paying. He was driven away in a police cruiser around 9:30 a.m.
Police are not investigating the incident because the man in question didn't technically do anything illegal. The man was estimated to have brought 70 to 80 people to the store and a great majority of them left without being paid.
Another first fight broke out earlier in the night but that was apparently an unrelated incident. Estimates state that roughly 200 people were camped outside the store to wait for the release of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. No significant injuries were reported.
