Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down

[Knight of the Word]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/...wal_mart_death

NEW YORK – A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday after an "out of control" throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground, police said.

At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

Nassau police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.


rest of story in link

"This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos."

Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help the man were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Witnesses said that even as the worker lay on the ground, shoppers streamed into the store, stepping over him.

[Knight of the Word]

I wonder what it will be like when there is food shortages and people are scrambling for a can of beans or bag of rice.

This is pretty sick human behavior.

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Originally Posted by Knight of the Word

I wonder what it will be like when there is food shortages and people are scrambling for a can of beans or bag of rice.

This is pretty sick human behavior.

Mass hysteria! Yes, Sir Knight, what will it be like in even a minor crisis? I'll never understand 'shoppers'... what void are they trying to fill in their lives????

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Knight of the Word

I wonder what it will be like when there is food shortages and people are scrambling for a can of beans or bag of rice.

This is pretty sick human behavior.

seems that is quite easy to imagine. What happened at Walmarts , but many times worse. When it comes to critical necessities , it is survival of the fittest in its bare bones reality. People have slaughtered each other for less. Wait until the guns come out.


For some reason : survival of the fittest does not translate with shoppers. particularly those looking for bargains. The eternal greed of humanity factors in of course.

Perhaps these same overly aggressive shoppers might stop and think about what they could make or do (as in acts of kindness) for the holidays as opposed to this kind of insanity. (aka barbarism) But materialism reigns supreme in the culture of " I want".

[Nostalgia]

I was just about to you the same quote from KOTS, but it looks like we are all in agreement.
Maybe it's time to go back to indigenous living.... if there is anywhere decent left to live, which I doubt.

[cbamber85]

I can't believe people can be bothered with crowded festival shopping, you can get things just as cheap on the net. So basically while people are getting trampled to death in Wal-Mart, I sit in my pants at home and then they arrive at my door the following day - why do people bother!?

[Nostalgia]

Sought: Wal-Mart shoppers who trampled NY worker

NEW YORK – 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."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. It said it tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.

"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted."

A woman reported being trampled by overeager customers at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in Farmingdale, about 15 miles east of Valley Stream, Suffolk County police said. She suffered minor injuries, but finished shopping before filling the report, police said.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day when stores broke into profitability for the full year.

Items on sale at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart included a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/...wal_mart_death

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

"Suppressing the impulse to buy is like giving up smoking. It's an addiction,"
Thinking Man's Idiot