2 arrested after chaos at Vans shoe drop in NYC

A limited edition shoe drop at a Vans store in Midtown Manhattan sparked chaos Thursday and landed two people in handcuffs.

Sneakerheads rushed the store on a mission to snag the Satoshi Nakamoto Vans.

NYPD called for disorderly group

Malechi Murzinski said roughly 40 people were in line when he arrived at 5 a.m. Thursday.

When the store opened, Murzinski said everyone tried to push inside and he tripped.

"I ended up falling," he said. "This officer is about to help me up ... Instead of a helping hand, it was cuffs."

The NYPD said officers were responding to a 911 call for a disorderly group, and two people were arrested.

Murzinski said he's attended countless sneaker releases over the years, and it's not the first time he's been involved in a scuffle. He feels it's time for stores to step up security and put line protocols in place.

"If the store is going tend to do, like, you know, a first-come, first-serve line, it's either, one, have, like, good security [or] just better management," Murzinski said.

Shoe releases in NYC

Matt Welty, an editor at Complex who writes about the latest sneaker drops and shoe history, said New York is known for "madness" around shoe releases.

He said New York is the epicenter of sneaker culture, and the collaboration released Thursday holds value in the resale market, amping up the madness.

"Satoshi is a new brand, kind of, based off the anonymity of the Bitcoin founder," Welty said, "and you've seen a lot of celebrities wear it, athletes, artists."

When the limited-edition Satoshi Nakamoto shoes dropped, they retailed in store for around $200 with tax. Now on the resale market, they'll cost you about $850.

The Midtown Vans location closed early Thursday, saying they were sold out of the limited edition shoe and would reopen Friday.