Push Comes to Shove in Shoe Lineup

The Los Angeles Mission gave away more than 1,000 pairs of name-brand athletic shoes to the homeless Tuesday morning, but things didn’t work out quite the way mission officials had hoped.

Police were called to restore order after the crowd waiting for the shoes became unruly. And some recipients who got the shoes walked out the door, took them off and sold them to purchasers on the sidewalk.

The idea was that the people would get tickets, then queue up in the alley behind the mission at 443 S. Los Angeles St. for their turn to step inside and be fitted with the shoes donated by the Foot Locker chain.

“But a bunch of them didn’t like where they were in line, and they started pushing and shoving,” said Rod Gray, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer working as a security guard for the mission. The crowd soon became orderly again, however, and no one was injured or arrested.

People were admitted into the mission chapel, where Foot Locker employees measured their feet and handed out scores of Reeboks, Nikes and other brands. Helping unpack the crates of shoes--some of which retail for as much as $130 a pair--were Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Raiders and members of the California Golden Bears football team.

Roy Bratton, 38, slipped on a pair of Reeboks, the kind with a pump that inflates them with air. “They feel good, real good,” Bratton said. Bratton, who left his old shoes behind, headed out the door and disappeared down the street.

But others left, slipped off the new shoes, put the old ones back on and began bargaining with people on the street.

Bianca Arthur, a spokeswoman for the mission, said, “It’s unfortunate. But we’re not responsible for what people do with those shoes.”