As I suggested, authorities are planning to charge those responsible.
“NEW YORK (AP) – Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.
Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday’s video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.
Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries. The store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.
Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening at a mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the employee, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.
“This crowd was out of control,” Fleming said. He described the scene as “utter chaos,” and said the store didn’t have enough security.
Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help Damour were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store.
Damour, 34, of Queens, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.
A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, where she and the baby were reported to be OK, said police Sgt. Anthony Repalone.
Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like “savages.
“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’” she said. “They kept shopping.”
Let’s hope they are able to make positive ID and charge each individual with manslaughter at the least, preferably second degree murder. Additionally the state attorney should look at charging the store management as well as Walmart itself for negligence. As I said it is done in other countries around the world and it works. We should do so here as well. Additionally the manager of this store is as responsible for what happened just as those who actually did the killing. At the very least he should be fired.
Very telling is the fact that Walmart doesn’t even have a press release on their homepage showing just how much they really care about this incident. Gross negligence and incompetance all around.
Contact them and voice your opinion:
It’s time for this nonsense to stop. Animals like this need to be caught and made to held to account. Imagine the lack of moral restraint and utter coldness to equate your so-called right to a on sale Xbox to the life of a human being.
Miserable bastards.
11 Responses
kasper
November 29th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
1Guaranteed. Those directly responsible will NOT be held accountable.
Wal-Mart will have multiple law suits. Everyone in the crowd will declare they are a victim of a mismanaged advertising ploy. They were swept up in the frenzy and are not to be held libel for their participation in the event.
Wal-Mart shouldn’t be promoting such sales at such a ridiculous time on Black Friday. Nobody is in their proper frame of mind at such an unGodly hour. Wal-Mart didn’t have enough barriers in place for the anticipated crowds. Wal-Mart should have had armed guards at the doors and in the store regulating the masses. Wal-Mart didn’t train or prepare their employees properly for the expected mass swarming they were promoting.
After all, they should now that consumers these days are stressed out in these trying economic times and should have had people strategically place through out the parking lot to talk the hysterical crowds down before they got to the front door. Any knows to put only those with extraordinary strength to handle the front doors of Wal-Mart on Black Friday.
The community of Valleyxxxx (whatever) is shocked, shocked, to see such mishandling of the traditional holiday mayhem.
Wal-Mart is screwed.
retire05
November 30th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
2Hold Wal-Mart responsible? Oh, pleeeeze.
There is a famous bridal shop in New York that holds a dy-no-mite sale once a year. Bridal gowns that cost $2,000 can be had for $200. It is a mad house and mayhem. And no different that the Black Friday sales that are held by any number of retail stores. The difference is in the customer, not the store. No one has ever been killed, or even injured, at the bridal sale.
Since when do we hold businesses responsible for the personal actions of their customers? No one forced those people to be there. Wal-Mart did not drag them out of their beds, force them to stand there for hours waiting to buy a cheap X-Box. And Wal-Mart certainly did not force those customers to shove the store doors down (breaking and entering?).
I recently read where one city wants to fine McDonald’s and other fast food joints for the trash that is thrown on the streets by their customers. Again, this is liberal thinking; making businesses responsible for the actions of customers.
The events at the Wal-Mart store that caused the death of an employee rests entirely on the shoulders of the customers. And when we start making excuses for mob mentality, we are going down a slippery slope.
Were those customers any more stressed out than other Americans who did not attend that sale? How can you excuse in any fashion, the actions of those customers? Once they realized the man had been shoved to the floor and was being trampled, how many of them came to his rescue? And when the police started clearing out the store and announced it was going to be closed due to the death of a worker, what kind of people start complaining that they should be allowed to continue their shopping in light of such a tragic event?
This was the same mentality we saw at the Super Dome after Katrina. And it should be unacceptable under any circumstances. What is next? The end of sales at retail outlets or the issuance of Prozac to customers so they can control themselves and act like civilized human beings?
Nostradamus
November 30th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
3Way off base. There is no way the Wal-Mart legal team will allow then to comment on this incident. They know it spells LAWSUIT and anything they say can be spun by a plaintiff’s attorneys. Slipping on a grape can cost a store $100,000. What do you think these plaintiffs will be going after the worlds largest company for? NEGLIGENCE is what wins the big dollars, as you’re always 50% at fault for slips, trips and falls. (You should be looking where you’re going). Wal-Mart knows they “Created a hostile environment” and then failed to manage it. They should have let people enter one at a time through one door from a roped-off single file line.
Jaca
November 30th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
4Kasper—-u have a screw loose…..is that what you would say if that way your child, father, mother that was stamped to death. Its a sin….no sale is worth someones life. have we all forgotten about 9-11….that we are so consumed with money and greed. It was a horrible thing that happened, and I hope they get everyone who stepped on him, over him or near him….they are all guilty….but then to read an ignorent comment like yours…makes me wonder how we all must have forgotten how important life is…..
Never shop there.
November 30th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
5Wal-mart’s are garbage.
cain
November 30th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
6THis incedent makes me sick to my stomach in so many ways. The people that are responsible for this, and those that had the indecentcy to keep shopping should be beatin publicly in front of their familys, and with no remorse. These folks are not human and therefor should be treated without humanity. This makes me sad for my daughter.
Human
November 30th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
7Why do you blame Walmart? What is exactly manager’ fault? Why are you talking armed guards? Do you expect manager to hire professional military boys and just shoot anybody who rush in the store? What exacly security allowed to do? Shoot? Punch? Tazer crowd? Use paper spray? – NOTHING !
Blame it on yourself, your culture, your worthless education in schools, general disrespect to each other, people getting use to lawsuits to get easy money. Change yourself first and learn what respect means.
Phillis
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:18 pm
8Tradegies like this one, takes the fun away from the after Thanksgiving sales. I’m personally not a big fan of Walmart, therefore I dont believe that they should get away blameless. Shopping use to be fun, relaxing and a way that the entire family can have a safe outing. Now it like going to a war zone. I realize that economic woes have clouded the judgement of many people. When it get’s so bad that we sacrifice another human for a sale item. These people have more than an economic issue to worry about…
Philmyster123
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
9i agree with Retire 05 those people chose to be their and therefore their responsible for the man’s death they acted like savages and like animals all to get a few bucks off a television or a radio. They chose that those inaminate objects are worth way more than a person’s life. I just don’t understand how they can have a happy christmasknowing that the t.v. they got saved them 25%and a man’s life talk about some holiday cheer. This is an upright outrage and the customers need to be brought to justice and as for not leaving because you’ve been waiting outside who the heck cares what the heck you’ve been doing a man just died get the heck out of the store freaking animals.
Sonny
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
10I agree with you Phylmyster
debbie
December 5th, 2008 at 3:06 am
11human, i agree with what you say, but not all people are like those described by you. Those who are, should be held accountable for their actions. I dont blame walmart for what happened, it was short sightedness on their part to offer good deals in a bad econony and not expect a large anxious turnout. My beef with walmart is, angry crowd or not, out of respect, the store should have been closed. The same deals could have been offered a few days later.
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