Police used pepper spray to control women in hair weave melee

A sale on hair extensions at a beauty supply store in Orlando, Florida, got out of hand on Friday and forced police officers to use pepper spray to control shoppers, Orlando police said. Beauty Exchange, which opened about three months ago, was having one in a series of grand opening sales, manager Zaid Muhsen said. The first 50 customers of the day could get a bundle of hair for extensions or a weave worth $50 to $100 for one penny, he said.



The store has had similar one-penny deals before, Muhsen said, and while they usually draw a crowd, customers usually stay orderly. When Muhsen arrived at his store five minutes before the 9am opening, there were already shoppers waiting at the door, he said. "Hundreds of people," he said. "Hundreds. I'm not sure – 400, 500." The store's two security guards tried to keep the customers in line, and allow only 10 people in at a time, Muhsen said.

But shoppers did not listen to them, and eight police officers arrived to help with crowd control, Muhsen said. "The police tried to hold them up, they pushed the police, the police got mad. It started getting outta control, and then they [police] pepper sprayed," Muhsen said. Two of the officers aimed pepper spray over the heads of customers, who immediately scattered, Muhsen said. Sgt. Lovetta Quinn-Henry, an Orlando police spokeswoman, said the officers' conduct is being reviewed "to make sure everything was within OPD policy."



"What is most important is peace was restored, no one was injured or arrested," she said. Muhsen said he wished police did not use pepper spray on his customers. "When the police were saying everybody leave, everybody leave, I got a little upset. Because I'm doing this for the community, I'm doing this for my customers, and I don't want my customers to leave," Muhsen said. Still, Muhsen said he is not angry at officers. "They were doing their job, the police."

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