I’m watching the local noon time news and this story came up …
Wal-Mart Worker Fatally Trampled By Shoppers
34--Year-Old Man Pronounced Dead An Hour After Store Opening
NEW YORK (AP) ― Police say a Wal-Mart worker has died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers shortly after the Long Island store opened today. Nassau County police say the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened. Police say the shoppers knocked the employee to the ground just after 5 a.m. but he exact cause of death has not been determined. The man's name has not been released. Police also say a 28-year-old pregnant woman and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital for observation. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede during the day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, but said a "medical emergency" caused them to close the store.
This was courtesy of wcbstv.com – the site for NY/NJ/CT local news
Eyewitnesses say people were lined up since 10 PM, mostly for the $400 plasma flat screen TV. This poor worker opened the doors to let a few people in (no one knows who or why) and then tried to close the doors telling the shoppers on line that it wasn’t opening time yet.
The shoppers literally pushed the doors down and trampled the man to death. Police spent quite a while trying to revive him.
One witness said – “someone was trying to do their job and they were trampled to death for electronics”
Lying on the floor around the victim were flyers advertising the ‘Door Buster Sale’ – sickeningly ironic.
I have worked in retail, on and off, all my life. I worked on Black Friday last year. I got to the store at 4:30 AM and had to push my way through a small crowd to get into the employee entrance which also served as the nearest entrance for appliances and electronics. Luckily I have a big mouth and a sense of humor so I just held up my badge and yelled excuse me a lot, stopping to ask people how their turkey had been and telling them how wonderful they all looked so early in the morning.
We had proper security and we made sure the doors were NOT opened until they were going to STAY open. Each entrance had several people at it.
Does not look like this was the story at this Wal-Mart on LI.
I would love to blame Wal-Mart but there is enough blame to pass around to …
Those who continuously, endlessly advertise their ‘Door Buster’ sales
Those who feel a TV is more important than the safety of their fellow citizens
Management that does not properly staff giant sale days
I HATE Black Friday – always have. It is to me a shining example of our twisted and disgusting values. It has nothing to do with a holiday. It certainly has nothing to do with a religious holiday – although I’ll bet you many of those brutish shoppers are the same people who carry on about ‘Jesus being taken out of Christmas’ and complain when a sales person they didn’t trample to death says ‘Happy Holidays’ rather than ‘Merry Christmas’
Considering our current economic situation this would make some sad sense to me if this were a line at a Food Bank.
Considering what is going on, right now, in Mumbai it is pathetic that this kind of violence should ever have a place to even remotely happen here in this country under the guise of ‘Holiday Preparations.
Black Friday is uniquely American – and that is nothing to be proud of. 
the top photo was taken this morning at a Wal-Mart in TX. Courtesy of AOL News
the bottom photo comes from NapleNews.com
55 comments:
It's beyond me to understand this kind of accident. What kind of savings value can you put on that mans life?
This is beyond sad, this is completely and totally tragic and the worst part is that the people who trampled the poor guy to death probably didn't even notice as they made their way to get their coveted "door-buster" buys.
People in this country ought to be ashamed of themselves for acting in this sort of manner and the retailers should hang their heads in shame as well. This is truly, truly pathetic and probably explains a good part of the reason that I am so disenchanted with the Christmas season anymore.
That poor man and his family ... my heart goes out to them.
There's something about retail that makes people go nuts ...
The local Mall here isn't a good place to be on a Saturday (especially a rainy one) because it's filled with inconsiderate muppets who's only concern is BuyBuyBuyGetOutOfMyWayBuyBuy.
I usually avoid the January Sales over here like the plague, because I hate the crowds. I'll have to head out there this time around though as I'll be looking to get a laptop.
Hopefully when I do go laptop-hunting, the shop people won't be too harassed to respond to the grin when they see it :-)
No electronic items, toys, clothing and the like -bargain-priced, small-sale priced or full-priced -make trampling an individual to death worth the purchase! Like you, I hate Black Friday too! Never had to work it as a retail person but just hate what it stands for as in greed, pure and simple, greed that seems to ooze out of many people when they hear or see the word "Sale."
This lunacy is getting completely out-of-control along with so many who have no idea as to what the origins of Christmas are -the reason for the season is NOT "On Sale."
Really sad story - to me black Friday is a no shopping day. This is really pathetic. I can imagine doing this for food if me and my family were starving - but for plasma TV?????
Dianne: Just another thing to be thankful for; not working at Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving.
Rich
mickey - I can't understand it either. I have been very poor many times in my life and never once felt the need to act like this
linda - I started out excited about trying something new this year. I have suggested a full no gift Christmas - except for the little ones. I am being met with such resistance!! from the entire family. My brother said I was "taking my crazy politics to a new level" WTF!?
I'm going to do it anyway - I am donating a small amount to Food Banks of NJ and that's it!!
pete - as Jeni says - greed. try shopping right before lunch or at dinner time during the week, no weekends. they are the 2 least shopped time periods accoridng to Retailers Weekly something.
jeni - "the reason for the season is NOT "On Sale."
that is a perfect way to say it!!
pink - exactly!! and sad thing is, there are few reports of trouble at the ever increasing lines at Food Banks. I think truly poor people have, at their core, better values.
rich - there's a part of me who wants to work at Wal-Mart just to cause trouble and gather information lol
I have to post the latest crap from these weasels. Now they are "encouraging" their employees to do 'community work' - as in - threatening people to get involved for the press coverage. Mother Jones had the story. I used to work somewhere where we were brow beaten into being part of that cahrity the NFL is always going on about. Name escapes me at the moment. We were "encouraged" by HQ to donate a % thru our paychecks. I wrote a memo excluding ALL my workers and suggested top management make up the difference or pay them enough so they could be charitable.
I'd love to go to Wal-Mart as some dumb broad and then fuck with their minds!!
That is disgusting.
I can't think of anything else to say. It's just disgusting.
I am so sickened by this and by the photo on dogwalkmusing of a starving child! What in hell are we thinking about in this country? Or is that the problem, we don't think, unless it is about ourselves. I've always hated Black Friday, have never, ever shopped then. There is nothing that I want badly enough to become another idiot willing to take anothers life
just to get one more piece of crap that they didn't need to begin with! Well, I surely won't have to worry about being cold today, I've got enough anger to keep me boiling for a while! Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention!
I hate shopping. Would never shop on Black Friday for any reason.
This story is just beyond words. It's beyond thinking about. How materialistic can we get? What are we teaching our children by such behavior? I think I'm glad I have so little money these days. I don't have to be tempted to buy anything.
This is totally out of control! People being killed and injured due to the pressure to spend money and buy, buy, buy... I'm so outraged that I feel like boycotting Christmas this year! I'm a lot of fun,aren't I? :)
It's just really sad that Christmas has been lost or covered up with the stores and their bottom line pushing us to spend, spend, spend....
Glad you wrote about this! It's an important post!!! Great job!!
Something we can ALL agree on. I think it's also a bit wrong to have only, say, 10 of an item at a ridiculously low price. It encourages such behaviour.
I stay well away from that sort of thing myself. That poor family is going to be missing someone 'round the tree so someone can stretch a buck and get a new TV?
Does it make sense to you that we have this "Black Friday" thing RIGHT AFTER Thanksgiving?? Like, Oh! I've been thankful for a whole stinkin' day and now I'm gonna go get more stuff!
PS Dianne you are NOT taking crazy to a new level. The world is crazy. What was your bro thinkin??
Well said, Dianne. We are losing our civilization to the accumulation of stuff. Civil behavior falls away to greed and instant gratification. Black Friday is not a day to be proud of.
sparkling - disgusting pretty much covers it
sylvia - I make myself crazy (crazier?) by trying to see and understand all sides. I wonder if people take some delight in the hunt? and some satisfaction in thinking they beat the store? I'm sure that has something to do with it. funny thing is - they're not beating the store - the $400 TV cost the store $100. Sad!!
bobbie - I've always hated shopping too. I'm in and out and only for what I need. I shop as much as possible online
kelly - up in my response to linda is a bit of what I'm thinking of doing this year. I'm going to post about it at some point when it's clear in my mind
Mrs C - really good point about the limited quantities and how they emphasize that in all their ads! really good point!! a bit like inciting riot
and for my Bro - part of me is just pissed at him for being a jerk and part of me gets it - we always had horrible holidays. Mom sleeping, Dad drunk, eviction notices and fights and police and on and on
so we over-indulge now - partly because we worked so hard to rise above, partly to give our kids what we didn't have, partly to push down the bad memories. I get it but I want to change it.
I would so much rather find kids like we were back then and give them something to show them the whole world doesn't suck ;)
plus - I don't feel like pretending I have $$$ I don't - that's another family trait!
Ohhh, Dianne, that's what my husband went through! His mom went through not enough stuff, so the credit and stuff was overcharged every Christmas...
NOT what we are doing. Only kids really get gifts here, too, though we may very occasionally decide to buy, say, a bed for a growing child or that sort of thing sometimes too. :]
My parents overindulged me but they could afford to do so. So I grew up thinking mega-stuff was normal!
I literally feel sick to my stomach reading this.
This has to be the most disgusting news story I have ever read.
GREED!!!!!!!!
Sick sick sick!!
Bear
Valuable resource of wal-mart news summaries: http://www.ng2000.com/blog/2008/11/28/wal-mart-2/
This is just another sickening example of our shopping-based culture, although it's much more tragic than most.
I will stay home today.
Someone needs to pay for this tragedy. They were responsible for causing this frenzy. Desperate times over TV. peoples priorities are screwed up.
My friend,
Thank you for sharing this. For making us reflect on the insanity of greed and our incessant consumerism...
I pray we stop... we stop the poison of greed from spreadin through our own hearts...so that there will be a little more love and grace in this world,
Sending you light across the waters,
Maithri
Mrs C - we keep finding all these things we have in common don't we, the best of the Internet :)
bear - there was another trampling incident at another LI Wal-Mart later in the day!!!! Luckily the woman was OK.
ng - I will check that out
meno - shopping based culture - another good way to put it
queen size funny bone - that ties in with what Mrs C was saying about deliberate limited quantaties - they create the frenzy to get people in the door.
maithri - I wish there was an easier way to show people, starting with my own family, how giving rather than consuming is ultimately a greater gift.
I always feel the light from across the water - thank you :)
Hunger.
How desperate are we for something to satisfy our desire for meaning and guarantees. We will sign on to anything to fill the void.
Consumption = the wasting disease, spread by airborn spores. One third of the world's current
population have been infected.
“Before the Industrial Revolution, tuberculosis may sometimes have been regarded as vampirism. When one member of a family died from it, the other members that were infected would lose their health slowly. People believed that this was caused by the original victim draining the life from the other family members. Furthermore, people who had TB exhibited symptoms similar to what people considered to be vampire traits.”
Wikipedia
One third of the world's current population have been infected with this disease.
Please, please. Let us stop this epidemic with love.
Why the rush, indeed. I am bewildered with those that have the idea to complete their Christmas shopping at the earliest. Of course, using the wheelchair, I prefer not to get involved with an overexcited crowd. I wouldn't get trampled being in the chair, but I couldn't live with running someone over - which could indeed happen if I were pushed over someone who did fall...Christmas is for giving, I wish all gave gifts from the heart,
Ohmygosh ... how can such a thing happen? What has happened to the real spirit of Christmas ... good will toward all ... ?
This is distressing.
Hugs and blessings,
gabrielle - consumerism as a way to fill voids, true.
ralph - gifts from the heart - yes, that would be preferred :)
storyteller - I know, very distressing.
I worked in retail during my collage years..and I hate Black Friday. I was out shopping last December and was knocked to my knees by three women trying to get to a sale rack. It was really scary and I had an urge to go beat them with my cane..
A guy dies so somebody can get their cheap, plastic shit made in China. It's what Christmas is all about, right?
Heartbreaking. Every year people get hurt by this insanity...and the next year it's the same thing all over again, this year sounds like it was the worst on record. I know teenagers that go to the black Friday sales but they don't go to Wal Mart because of how creepy the crowds are and how Wal Mart makes no attemt to control the frenzy. I hate to shop, and Wal Mart is a shopping-haters worst nightmare. Uh oh...here I go again..hatin' on WallyWorld.
I worked retail a good portion of my adult life and I'm glad we don't have such a day here.
Our worst retail day is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas but it looks nothing like your Black Friday.
My deepest condolences to that poor man's family. I hope the shoppers present that morning will remember the effects of their greed and avarice every time they "enjoy" their purchases.
Merry Christmas indeed.
AMEN Sister Dianne!!! I just happened to mention on my blog today how I don't DO black friday! This is just sickeningly sad...
Wow. And people here complain when a new electronic store opens with sale about shoppers camping outside with sleeping bags to be the first in line. At least we don't have Black Friday.
That is a tragedy. You could understand the rush if people were starving but for a plasma tv...incredible.
Recently one of our motorways (freeways) ground to a halt when a store announced a huge sale. People couldn't get to work for the rush to buy TVs, satnavs and Wii games.
Credit cruch...what credit crunch??
What a shame! I'm not an early riser so there is no door buster who could get me out of the bed at that horrible hour. I think I went shopping on Black Friday just once. At 4 pm :o) I hate crowds.
This is so sad.
I can't help but wonder, though, if it has less to do with greed and more to do with lack of crowd control. When you get a lot of people trying to get through a small space, like a door, bad things can happen. A girl was trampled once when they opened the door to my Middle School in the morning to let us all in from the schoolyard. (I think she got maybe a sprain or something, nothing serious.) Not exactly someplace that people were oh-so-excited to get in, but a crowd is like a tide, once the door is open and the tide gets moving, you can't stop it. I blame the Evil Giant for providing such insane incentives to be the first one through the door, yet neglecting to provide any kind of crowd control.
That is beyond horrible! I'm so glad we don't have Black Friday here in Canada.
This story has really affected me emotionally. I won't go on and on here, because I have a post planned for sometime latter today on the very same topic. Just wanted to say I feel you contempt for the actions of the greedy consumers that have taken over Christmas.
This tragic news made me sick to my stomach as well. I cannot believe people would go to such extremes to get a bargain on some crap at Wal Mart.
Some people have lost the true meaning of this season.
And don't they care about a fellow human being?
I hate Black Friday and don't participate.
The day after Thanksgiving will forever be a nightmare for the family of the poor guy who was trampled to death just doing his job.
Materialism has reached a new low.
I so agree. This story is sad and disgusting on so many levels. As is the story of what has happened in Mumbai. I'm hoping (always the optimist) that Mumbai is the beginning of the END of such violence. I don't understand the world sometimes.
Missing you and Finola at wordzzles. Hope you are ok.
Dianne: Thank goodness 2000 self-indulgent, greedy, thoughtless and shallow people got their flat screen TVs at that store.
Now they can go home and watch themselves on the news on their new sets.
At times it seems like we're doomed to be a country of ignorant dipshits. Or at least a country that tolerates a good percentage of the population being that way.
Merry Frigging Christmas, I guess.
Rich
Allow me to say something unpopular: it was not greed or crazy shoppers that killed this man. The door opened, and the crowd got moving. Once a mob gets moving, there is no way to stop it. Even the people in the crowd are powerless to do anything about it. Once a door is opened, it can't be closed. It's terribly unfortunate, tragic even, but I really doubt that it was a case of people foaming at the mouth with murder in their eyes, ready and willing to get that TV no matter what, even if it meant killing someone. I'll reiterate what I said before: this was a case of too many people and not enough crowd control. Should WalMart be held responsible for attracting so many people and failing to have proper procedures in place? Absolutely. Should the people in the crowd be berated? No. I'm sure they feel guilty enough as it is, and it wasn't even their fault.
I think the entire black Friday thing makes little sense. It brings out the very worst in people. We never shop on that day.
However, don't be so quick to lump groups together.
"although I’ll bet you many of those brutish shoppers are the same people who carry on about ‘Jesus being taken out of Christmas’ and complain when a sales person they didn’t trample to death says ‘Happy Holidays’ rather than ‘Merry Christmas’"
is not justified by any of the facts and rises strictly from your prejudice.
Honestly, this consumer/material driven society has forgotten the meaning of these holidays. I was appalled to read that Michael's would be opening for three hours on Thanksgiving night-and then several stores opening at 4am for Black Friday. Now reading this, what is worth trampling some poor unpaid, overworked young man for? It makes me want to skip shopping altogether.
This story is beyond sad, beyond horrifying. This poor man was a temp worker, so he wasn't necessarily well-versed in store policies, which may be why he made the mistake at the door. He never should have been assigned to the door, but like you said, there's plenty of blame to go around. I hope they find and prosecute the heartless people who knocked down the doors and trampled this poor man. His family in Haiti is in shock.
Who can blame them? What must other countries think of us?
Peace - D
rambling - ever since I've started using a cane to get around I have become even more aware of how thoughtless people can be.
quiet rage - pretty much :(
shelly - I have never been in a Wal-Mart and I intend to keep it that way.
Further investigation into this has revealed that there was NO security and there were people cutting the line, that's how the door was broken down.
anndi - I wonder if they even "get it" - I've read that even after hearing someone was killed and being asked to leave the store people were refusing and bitching about how long they had waited.
His Dad was on TV tonight and it was heartbreaking
melli - I have never done Black Friday either, even when I was younger. I have always found it repulsive.
koala - we have that all the time and never any trouble. there is something so hysterical about Black Friday. It's like a virus.
CG - I guess the crunch is an even crazier need for deep discounts. I'll never need a TV that bad!
ivanhoe - in general I like shopping early. I hate crowds and usually there are none in the mornings.
kerry - I agree for the most part. It has been shown that Wal-Mart had NO viable security. But after watching so much of the Black Friday coverage I still have to say that people have to take responsibility for themselves. There was all this coverage of people rushing thru doors like packs of bleating pigs.
tammy - I could just imagine the uproar here if Black Friday were ever cancelled. There is a movement for "No Shopping Friday" but it never gets much coverage since all the big corporations basically own the news.
jeff - it has been weighing on my mind since it happened. I will check out your thoughts.
patti - "materialism has reached a new low" - Amen!
raven - I'm fine. I chose not to work Wednesday so I could cook and then was exhausted yesterday so today and tomorrow are frantic catch up. I know Finola will be great when she's back lol
I just don't have a head for fiction these days, life is too f'ing real
rich - I am, I have been for a long time now, pretty sick of how many of my fellow citizens are asshats. All your adjectives are quite appropriate.
kerry - Wal-Mart will weasel out of any responsibility as they always do.
dr john - I'll freely admit to my intense distaste for organized religion. I'll even take it further during this season to admit to absolute disgust at 'Christians' believing they have the right to have any say at all in what a business does or does not say. Or in thinking they should have their religious symbols on public property or their religious songs sung in secular venues. I'm not ashamed of feeling that way and make no apologies for feeling that way. My feeling is and always will be that everyone is free to worship as they see fit - IN their church, IN their homes. I find most of these "christmas is being killed" lunatics to be nothing more but people wishing to shove their beliefs down everyone's throat. I also feel that most religious zealots are more than a little crazy and cause nothing but heartache and division to the general population. Christmas was turned into a business, an official state holiday if you will BY Christians who want it both ways. No other religious group inflicts itself on the populace the way Christians do. As a half Jew, half Catholic who traveled back and forth between 2 sets of "practicing" families and then later married a Southern Baptist I have seen the BS first hand. So I guess your accusation is true - am I prejudiced? - yes I am. Against crazy and hypocritical. I assume most of those people were shopping for Christmas because they said they were.
snoop - I didn't hear about Michaels. I never shop much any way and even less this year.
riverpoet - I only saw his Dad. I didn't know how big his family was. This bothers me to no end. People on rice lines in Africa behave better than this and are far more grateful for so much less than the poorest of us have.
This is sickening Dianne. It almost makes me ashamed to say I live on Long Island.
Of all the ugly aspects of the holiday season, Black Friday is the worst. It saddens me to see people reduced to frenzied greed, and over what? Trinkets and toys? No store holds anything worth this.
Thanks also for spreading the word about world AIDS day...
We need more angels... spreading awareness of those who are suffering.
With love, M
Such a horrible story. How do those people justify what happened? I read that he was a temporary worker, that he was hired to do janitorial, so I wonder if he opened the door because he thought he was letting in some of the store's staff.
I am no fan of Black Friday. We were told that we could set up shopping pages, that we could link to our blog posts, in order to make money from our affliates. I know that ads are very important to our company - that's how they are able to pay us, but I felt so torn about this. I procrastinated and procrastinated, until finally I thought, forget it. And I did.
With different names and faces we repeat this every year, this rising crescendo of media fueled madness. Not just Madison Avenue builds the frenzy but supposed news media for two weeks before feeding the fire of desire to "have Christmas for the children."
Will America learn from this, both consumer and retailer? No, by July, if asked who Jdimytai Damour was; everyone will say "who?" and when reminded we will say..."but he was in the way of the deal."
Tis the season to be greedy
fuck the poor
forget the needy
Jdimytai Damour
died on a Wal-Mart floor
for no reason.
Absolutely disgusting. This was na example of greed at it's worst. What a pointless death :(
spartacus - it could have happened anywhere.Considering how congested our streets and parking lots and malls are, thinking of the stress of just a normal day - let alone holiday madness - I think it is a testament to our restraint that very few incidents happen during shopping season. I'd love to see some of the smug small town idiots who proclaimed themselves the true Americans bear up under it. They'd be shooting each other left and right! Or trying to find a way to blame NY or LA ;)
mymaracas - I agree. thanks for taking the time to comment.
maithri - I'm hoping to find enough time to do a little research and post something worth reading tomorrow. Too much - too many - are forgotten in the daily grind.
askew - what a cool and noble decision and I'm sure it wasn't easy to make. You may think you procrastinated - I think you made a choice :)
He may have thought he was letting in an employee although stores have really strict rules about employee entrances. I can't use a regular entrance even on my day off. All employees must always use employee sntrances which are always located near security. I read that there was a disturbance at the front of the line - some people were trying to cut to the front - one woman near the front said she couldn't breathe and was trying to leave the line. Maybe he saw this distress and thought he could help.
there was clearly no security and already there are probable law suits. I usually have very mixed feelings about people sueing over everything but in this case I hope Wal-Mart is slammed. Slammed over and over again.
mark - Amen
I had several 'gut' reactions to this news story ... first I am disgusted with the way people act in crowds .. and then I had to ask WAL MART? Puleeze. If you have to push and shove and possibly harm someone do it at Gucci, Prada or Fendi .. at least they have stuff to 'die for' ..
;-Daryl
So tragic - no individual to blame and yet everyone is at fault. It's like a cruel storyline in a movie. Very sad.
And Daryl, that was just wicked! A sense of humour is always in order. But oh so wicked! :)
How sadly ironic that this happened so close in time to the attacks in Mumbai - perpetrated by terrorists targeting Westerners whom they view as disgustingly decadent and material...
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