Greed Stampede

(updated 3rd Sept 2003)

Keywords: Pedestrian Evacuation, simulating people, simulating crowds

A publicity stunt in which an estate agent threw more than £6000 ($10,000) in bank notes to shoppers backfired when six people were taken to hospital after being trampled. More than 500 men, women and children, some with upturned umbrellas and fishing nets, joined the stampede when self-styled "money man" Kevin Shelton sent $10,000 fluttering down from the balcony of a shopping mall in St. Petersburg, Florida. Police condemned the stunt but a mall official hailed it as a success.

Sept 2003