Horror Stories From a Disastrous Justin Bieber Non-Appearance at a Long Island Mall
A scheduled Friday appearance at Long Island's Roosevelt Field Mall by young Island Def Jam signee and Usher protege Justin Bieber turned bloody when hordes of young women and their mothers swarmed the mall, creating a scene of such horrific violence that police eventually forbid Bieber from even setting foot inside. Cops were so irate they actually arrested Island Def Jam Senior Vice President James Roppo for the legally baffling crime of failing to announce on his Twitter account that the signing had been cancelled; he pleaded not guilty and is now out on bail. So just how bad was the carnage out there?
Initial reports quoted a 13-year-old who recounted her horrifying experience to the Daily News: "Everyone was pushing, there was no room to breathe," she said. "I was literally on the floor." Somewhere between 3,000 and 10,000 fans showed up, apparently; quoth the NYDN: "Only minor injuries were reported, but many left with broken hearts."
Is that all? Nope! ABC 7 quotes one girl as saying "One mom broke her arm"; they also found a Z100 DJ willing to compare Bieber to the Beatles.
But the award for the most alarmist report by far goes to WCBS 2:
- Caryn Mutino, a Wantagh mother, was injured during the melee, suffering cuts on her head when the crowd pushed her to the ground.
"To get hurt over it, that was ridiculous," Mutino said. "I touch my face - there is blood all over my face. My girls are crying, my daughter's hysterical crying."
"She was gushing blood and we needed to call an ambulance," daughter Courtney Mutino said. "Then they took us out and went to the ambulance."
Yikes. The cops also threatened to arrest Bieber's mother, before settling for merely charging Roppo with assault. As for us, we're taking the rest of the day off to print up a couple thousand Banned in LI t-shirts, if that's cool with everybody. [Gothamist]
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