Free coats hoax sparks riot in US clothing store

An American woman has sparked a riot at a shop selling winter coats after she pulled up outside in a limousine and announced that she had won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases.

Published: 7:00AM BST 16 Oct 2009



Linda Brown sparked a riot in a clothes store by claiming she had won the Lottery and would buy everyone's purchases Photo: SPLASH

The scene turned ugly when customers realised the woman didn't have any money and that even the limo was rented.

Angry at the deception and feeling entitled to free clothes, crowds of shoppers set about throwing merchandise around and looting the store.

Linda Brown, the woman alleged to have sparked the riot, was later arrested, police Sgt. Lt. Michael Deakins said.

Ms Brown had pulled up outside the Burlington Coat Factory in Ohio, walked to a cash register and loudly announced she had won the lottery and would pay for each person's merchandise up to $500, he said.

"Well, of course, people like to hear that," Sgt Deakins said.

"Apparently they were in line calling relatives who were not at the store and told them to come."

People flooded the registers as cashiers began ringing up purchase after purchase, but Ms Brown had not yet paid the bill, Sgt Deakins said. At least 500 people filled the aisles and another 1,000 were outside trying to get in, he said.

"She was telling people she won $1.5 million," he said. "But it ends up she didn't win anything. She had no money to pay for anything."

About an hour later, Ms Brown had the limousine driver take her to a bank to withdraw money, but she returned empty-handed, police Detective Steven Nace said. By then, store employees had called in two dozen police officers to handle the crowds.

Shopper Candace Jordan said she told Ms Brown she didn't need clothes, she needed help paying her rent.

"And she said, 'How much is it?'" Ms Jordan told WBNS-TV. "And she promptly wrote out a check."

By the time employees realised Ms Brown didn't have any cash to pay, police said, she already had taken off in the limo.

That's when angry customers, realizing they weren't getting free coats, began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Nace said.

"Everybody was like, 'I still want my free stuff,' and that started the riot," he said. "It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store."

Police said they have no way of tracking down the customers who stole items and fled, but they're reviewing surveillance video.

When the limousine driver realised he wasn't going to be paid the $900 Ms Brown owed him for the day's rental, he turned her in to police, Sgt Deakins said.

Ms Brown, 44, was arrested on three outstanding warrants for aggravated menacing, misuse of a 911 system and causing false alarms. She was jailed, but no charges had been filed against her related to the coat store chaos pending a mental health evaluation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... store.html