This reminds me of a racket I came across while in NYC. A guy is walking down the street with a small paper bag and purposely bumps into me. He was pretty lame, sort of obvious it was on purpose. He then proceeds to drop the bag, as if it was my fault for me bumping into him.
Bag drops, and a big glass bottle of "liquor" falls out of the bag and smashes on the concrete. When the bottle breaks, its obvious to me this is a scam. Then dude starts getting loud and carrying on I need to "buy him a bottle". I start getting loud and telling him to get bent (not in those words).
So, then we start pushing each other. Nobody swings, I think because neither of us wants to go to jail. A spectacle forms. People start gathering around forming the "fight circle". This is going on in NYC around Times Square.
Then due to the spectacle going on, a cop comes up. Everything stops. The guy tries his story with the cop, but the cop bends over and smells the spilled liquid and realizes its just water. He then tells dude to clean up the glass and get lost.
True story.