Philly fans loot, flip car, set fire as Super Bowl celebration turns ugly
FOX News and The Associated Press
What started out as a joyous party on the streets of Philadelphia on Sunday night following the Eagles' Super Bowl championship started getting rowdy as the night continued.
Boisterous fans smashed a Macy's store window, looters broke into a convenience store, and some flipped over a car, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Three people fell to the ground from light poles and lost consciousness, while other fans were seen in an onlline video leaping off a hotel entrance's awning.
At least one car was seen ablaze in an online video.
“This city is about to explode,” one police officer told the newspaper.
Initial reports out of Philadelphia on Sunday night showed the City of Brotherly Love was erupting in joy after its beloved Eagles captured their first Super Bowl title – and first NFL championship since 1960.
Fox 29 in Philadelphia said its cameras caught Eagles fans streaming out of bars in the city’s Mayfair section, and fireworks could be seen overhead.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced that plans for an Eagles victory parade would be announced Monday. The mayor's statement included the following:
“For so many who have called themselves Eagles fans for a generation, this is the day, the game, the season, and the team we’ve dreamed of. The 2017-18 Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl Champions, and they’ve brought tremendous joy to hundreds of thousands throughout the City and region."
Kenney continued: "We know you have waited years, some for decades, for the chance to crown your Birds as champs. I urge everyone to celebrate in a way that is safe and respectful to everyone from neighbors to strangers. Go forth and celebrate, but do so in a way that will make Philadelphia shine.”
The Eagles’ victory was the city’s first major professional sports championship since 2008, when baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.
Following that victory, 76 fans were arrested and some downtown businesses were looted, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
In 2016, Villanova University’s men’s college basketball team won the NCAA title, defeating North Carolina.
The NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers last won a Stanley Cup in 1975, and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers last won a title in 1983.
One Philadelphia reporter noted that the New York Times mistakenly posted on Facebook on Sunday that the Phillies, instead of the Eagles, had won the Super Bowl.
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