Woman tasered after 'trying to buy too many iPhones'

Apple has come in for heavy criticism after a woman was allegedly tasered by police at one of its stores after refusing to leave when told she would not be allowed to buy more than two iPhones.

Xiaojie Li of Newton in Massachusetts bought two iPhone 5s at the store in Nashua New Hampshire last week, which were apparently intended as gifts for relatives in China.

When returning to buy a further iPhone this week Li was told by Apple sales staff that she had exceeded a two phones per customer limit designed to foil profit-seeking Internet resellers.

After refusing or failing to understand their request to leave – Li is reported to speak poor English - amateur footage posted on YouTube shows her being dragged from the store by police officers who are accused of tasering her while prone.

A police spokesperson later described the arrest as “a criminal trespass incident and fairly routine here.”

Police claim Li had $16,000 (£10,000) in her purse at the time of her arrest. Her fiancé claimed the phones were meant for the woman’s sister and denied she intended to resell them.

Regardless of Li's intention in buying the phones, reaction on social media has been near-universally critical of the heavy-handed response by police and, by extension, Apple.

'Tasered for buying too many iPhones,' is probably not a headline that will be well-received in china itself, the country in which the iPhone is manufactured.