Black Friday Stampede Kills Worker At Wal-Mart

Update: The New York Daily News is now saying that reports of a woman having a miscarriage during a Wal-Mart Black Friday stampede are unfounded.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.

From The New York Daily News:

A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.

The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Additional reports from NY Newsday say the "34-year-old Wal-Mart worker died Friday morning after he was knocked to the ground after 'a throng of shoppers physically broke down the doors,' pushing their way into the store at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Nassau police said."

Comments

[VOTER]

Where is the Walmart store manager?

Is he/she sitting safely in their office?

If so, this practice should stop and they should be required to be the
employee OPENING THE STORE DOORS.
Perhaps then they would insist the corporation spend money on outside
security to maintain safe lines and order instead of allowing the massive crushing
rush of consumers.

[CuriousPerson]

Take responsibility!
Why should Wal-Mart m or anyone have to spend extra money because people have no common sense?

[Lotus19]

Why? Because a worker who needed his paycheck is dead.

[walkaway]

Some poor guy making 30,000 a year for working eighty hours a week isn't at fault. There should have been enough trained employees and a plan to handle the crowd. The people who work in these under staffed stores are usually under trained and underpaid.

These events are recipes for disaster. If this were a sports or concert venue the company in charge of the event would be paying up big. And deservedly so.

[VOTER]

Wal-Mart store managers and employees should demand
the corporation hire trained professionals to handle the crowds.

[AlsoSarah]

In the club fire in Rhode Island, the owners were held criminally and civily responsible. I believe there was some jail time involved. Walmart should be held accountable. This was pure negligence on their part.

[DonkeySerenade]

The poor guy wasn't making 30,000 a year to stock shelves. Wal-Mart does not allow employees to work over 40 hours because then they would have to pay time and a half for overtime.

It is obvious that a good deal more security should have been provided. But that would have cost Wal-Mart some additional money . I hope the guy's family sues their asses for not providing safety in the work place. This is not just an unfortunate and horrible "accident" - it is the result of negligence on the part of the employer.

[glorialovelace]

Right. Blame the store because the store's customers behave like animals.

[PWM]

It is their customers and Walmart knows the dangers of mob behavior.

[J242]

We will and rightfully so. They did not properly organize their efforts for crowd control. They did nothing to settle the aggression of the frenzied group and they did nothing to limit the scope of the entrance. All tactics used by other stores for massive openings perfectly. 4,500 in the New York Apple Store grand opening line, not one mauling, not even a panic attack from anyone in the line. Why? Not because they were more civilized shoppers necessarily but because Apple did what was needed by not allowing a throng to develop in the first place. They made it into an orderly one person at a time line and made sure it was understood that anyone trying to cheat the line or bulldoze through it wouldn't be allowed in at all.

For everyone respecting the rules they set up, they got free product demos, water, snacks, and in many cases, employees would hold their place in line so they could use the restroom. By being responsible as well as overwhelmingly courteous to their customers they prevented this situation from happening. Maul-Mart could've done the same but didn't, thus they are responsible for not controlling the crowd. Try working retail sometime and you'll understand what is necessary w/ crowd control and how bad it can get when not contained properly. This is a small but significant example of project planning done wrong.

[SUSANINCOLUMBIA]

Such a sad commentary on life in America, first that anyone would think that anything in any store is worth standing in line over night to buy it and even worse that another human being would be valued even less than the store item such that he would be trampled if he got in the way.

But isn't it a reflection of our materialistic society gone mad afterall? Compassion, human kindness and human dignity are trampled for the sake of getting more things.

[Tropiholic]

Can there be any "news" that is more sickening??? I can't think of too many things.

[repugnicansfearme]

Don't look at me, I BOYCOTT WAL MART!!!!!! And you should too.

[PWM]

Already do - Walmart is antilabor and treats its workers like serfs.

[VOTER]

Shopping with Sharks....­..........­. Hawaii

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz36WCCX82A

[Lotus19]

All I could do was watch it with my mouth open but then I read the hilarious comments. So it's not just NY.. insanity abounds!

[squander123]

I didn't see anywhere in the story what the police DID when they arrived. I sincerely hope they took names and addresses of everyone there, because after the CCTV footage of this is reviewed, I would expect criminal charges to be laid against every single person who went over that man. It's manslaughter at the very least.

[AlsoSarah]

CNN is reporting that the police are saying that identifying anyone is impossible. BS If it were a shoplifter, WalMart would have them in custody stat.

[entropy2]

The people who trampled the poor guy know who they are. I hope the deal they got on whatever piece of consumer cr@p was worth killing someone for.

Shame on Walmart (and the rest of them) for turning gift giving into a death sport and shame on the sheep who participate.

[roninroshi]

What insanity...spending money they don't have on things they don't need w/reckless abandon for human life...

[Lotus19]

that about sums it up "spending money they don't have on things they don't need".

Even before this crisis hit the fan I had decided to buy very little for my son. Usually he gravitates to one or two things and the rest is broken before the day is out or the pieces start getting lost and it's having an impact on his appreciation of things. A total waste of money.

Still, I have never braved the Black Friday crowds. It's insane.

[mandoboy]

Can you imagine feeling a person under foot and not trying to help them up? What kind of person can live with having trampled over someone and later hear that they died?

Can you imagine this happening anywhere else in the world (soccer events excepted)?

[blastocyst]

No.

[lapinbrim]

This is a hideously appalling example of complete disregard for other human beings, but if you really believe that this would not happen other places in the world you are mistaken. There are very few places in the world where this would not happen. Mobs can get ugly very, very fast. When you gin people up with the prospect of getting something others can't have, or for a price they can't have, many people will be have badly.

Years ago there were multiple trampling deaths at a Who concert in Cincinnati when people rushed the gates once they opened because there was no assigned seating. As a result, they outlawed having unassigned seating at similarly, large events. I'm not for banning Walmart and others from continuing these sales promotions but, at a minimum, the stores should have the police out in force.

One place this would not occur is in Singapore. Unfortunately, some people only know how to behave when they are threatened with harsh punishment.

[Nonamnesiac]

Isn't this the voodoo economics answer to the financial crash? Give trillions to financial institutions who caused the collapse to loan money to people who are already in too much debt so they will mindlessly and frantically consume. If workers get murdered in the process -- well that's collateral damage and we know all wars have collateral damage. Best of all it's not partisan. Bush's old team, Obama's new team and Clinton's team all agree -- consume uber alles -- real answers be damned regardless of the consequences. Freeze out and ignore the people who really know how to stop the slaughter.

[Chicago48]

This is an easy lawsuit against Walmart. They should have had control & security. Next time they will learn how to use the lottery system: Pick a number or give the customers a number, have them come into the store in groups. Simple as that.

[ltyler01]

I refuse to "buy" that Wal Mart is to blame. Why can't people act like decent citizens? Why does Wal Mart have to expend the extra expense of monitoring shoppers? Is this what we're coming to as a nation...spoiled crazed people who will trample to death innocent individuals just to get the best price, or the latest gadget? People have stood in lines all over this nation for all kinds of events, sometimes for hour or days. Though I hate Wal Mart and businesses like them, I won't blame them for the actions of thugs.

[Garrett123]

It takes two. If walmart didn't dangle the cheese the rats wouldn't come.

[VOTER]

Walmart looks for the Bottom Line and is responsible.

There is only one reason the corporation doesn't spend money
hiring security firms to monitor the outside crowds and assemble
safe entrance into their stores.

CORPORATE GREED!

Perhaps they should consider spending less on advertising and
put that money to good use,

BEDLAM CONTROL!

[ltyler01]

The population still blames other elements for their conditions instead of themselves. How is Wal Mart to blame for the actions of these thugs? We refuse to accept responsibility for anything. We blame business for our woes yet we're the ones demanding credit and loans beyond which we can pay. WE want the best cars, homes, TV's, and what new gadget that comes out that we feel we got to have. Even though we over extend ourselves.

We Got to accept responsibility for our own actions. Until we do we will never get out of this mess that we've helped to create. There's even blame to go around for us all. When are we going to look into the mirror?

[who38]

I will grant you that the shoppers are to blame in this incident; however, Wal Mart is too. The store allowed people to begin lining up for the sale 24 hours in advance. It is this kind of hype that results in people waiting a long time for impulse gratification. When the doors open, they are primed to grab and buy everything in sight. If people were not allowed to enter the store grounds prior to the opening of the sale, there would not be long lines. If they insist upon using lines, numbers could be given and only 100 people allowed in within a ten minute period. There are ways to solve yesterday's Wal-Mart problem but it is not in the best interest of the business to do so. They do not want to control the crowd.

[ltyler01]

I refuse to "buy" that Wal Mart is to blame. Why can't people act like decent citizens? Why does Wal Mart have to expend the extra expense of monitoring shoppers? Is this what we're coming to as a nation...spoiled crazed people who will trample to death innocent individuals just to get the best price, or the latest gadget? People have stood in lines all over this nation for all kinds of events, sometimes for hour or days. Though I hate Wal Mart and businesses like them, I won't blame them for the actions of thugs.

[blastocyst]

Target. Eerily appropriate name for a store these days.
WalMart* : as in crushed by a writhing wall of humanity.
Toys 'R Us: Shop until someone drops you because you've the temerity to lay claim to a toy for purchase.
Best Buy: Best buy before the reaper places a spectral finger upon your heart.
Circuit City: The route to bargains oft does seem Circuitous.

[screenname1972]

I hope they catch the bastards. They have video of who came through the doors, if walmart does anything right its their anti-theft measures.

See what happens when large numbers of uneducated people gather together.

[Miss Lola]

It would be wonderful if W-M decided to become a responsible corporate citizen, and announce, "We are done with crazy "Black Friday" gimmicks---no early openings, no insane sales on that day.

Until that happens, sadly, people will trample each other to get a 'great deal' on a piece of crap flat screen they don't really need.

i HATE crowds-I will not shop on the day after Thanksgiving-until that mindset is changed, we will see more of this.

Americans can really be a bunch of nasty slobs...