Police Seeking Wal-Mart Shoppers Who Trampled Employee

NEW YORK — Police are reviewing surveillance videos of a post-Thanksgiving shopper stampede that trampled a suburban Wal-Mart worker to death, but they acknowledge it may be difficult to bring criminal charges.

Nassau County police and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said no new information was available Saturday on the employee's brutal death, which rattled shoppers even as they flocked to the Valley Stream store a day later.

"It felt a little freakish," customer Ellie Berhun, 48, told the Daily News. "Some man lost his life because a VCR was on sale? Please. It's just too sad for words."

Police said the temporary worker, Jdimytai Damour, was mowed down as about 2,000 bargain-hunters surged into the store at Friday's 5 a.m. opening, leaving a metal portion of the door frame crumpled like an accordion.

Other workers were knocked to the ground as they tried to rescue Damour, and customers simply stepped over him and kept shopping even as the store announced it was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or treatment for minor injuries. The store, about 20 miles east of Manhattan, closed for several hours but reopened Friday afternoon.

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because it has traditionally marked the point when a throng of shoppers pushes stores into profitability for the year.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it added staffers and outside security workers and put up barricades to try to prepare for the crush. But police spokesman Detective Lt. Michael Fleming said Friday that security was inadequate for a scene he called "utter chaos."

Criminal charges are possible, but identifying anyone in the store's videos may prove difficult, Fleming said.

Damour, 34, came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store, Wal-Mart said.

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.

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.

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AP retail writers Anne D'Innocenzio and Mae Anderson contributed to this report.

Comments

[WorkingClass]

Attn Black Friday shoppers. You are all greedy mindless pigs. You make me ashamed to be an American.

[edgemo]

With all that she (America) has done over the past 8 years, this is the trigger?

[WorkingClass]

Whats up edgemo. Actually my differences with my countrymen go back to Viet Nam. But my purpose in commenting here was not to tell the story of my life. I merely wanted to heap disrespect on people who would stand in line all night and then kill some guy for shoddy merchandise.

[thegirlnextdoor]

"the store didn't have enough security" ?????
what does that mean? That it is ok to act like animals because the store will have lots of security to hold you in check? What happened to the idea of an inner moral compass where we know with in ourselves the difference between right and wrong.

Those people behaved worse than animals. Civilized humans beings line up and behave! Civilized people stop to help someone in need!

[pangurban]

As a society we have become voracious consumers and it is out of control. We are in Iraq because of oil to feed gas guzzling inefficient cars. Hopefully the election of Obama signals a turnaround to a more thoughtful and prudent society...which is what we used to be.

[Hamatreya]

yeah, and gas guzzling inefficient people. We are walking petroleum. Cut our consumption in half and we're still global energy hogs. These people are just the tip of the iceberg. Talk about savages, we just trashed Mesopotamia for Exxon folks. That means every one of us. -Blood lusting killers who were too busy shopping to negate two stolen elections. Own it.

[sarimn00]

It's gone. People have become as*holes. They don't care about their neighbors anymore.

[brerol]

thegirlnextdoor, Don't get me wrong. The individuals who pushed and shoved there way in must be held accountable. And so should Walmart. Walmart is infamous for there security cameras. I'll bet one was focused on the entrance where this tragedy occured. One simple glance of the camera and one would most certainly see a uncontrollable mob where nothing but bad things would happen. One 911 call to the local police and this whole tragedy probably would have been prevented.

[glorialovelace]

Why is it "infamous" to have security cameras? The only people who are anti-security camera are people who like to steal things.

[dct1999]

It means they should have had a better plan in place. The store managers did not do their job.

[glorialovelace]

What kind of a plan can you have if your customers are wild animals who don't care whom they kill in order to get a TV set? Normal security -- which was in place -- can't handle the homicidal and the depraved. The best plan would be to shut that store down.

[pangurban]

Not that it will bring the poor man back, but I think his family should be able to sue Walmart for creating an unsafe work environment for their employees. This is a total outrage.

[MizLiz]

Now THAT's a good idea.

[brerol]

Indeed. But sadly the attorneys representing the plaintiffs family will walk away with a ingodly amount of cash and leave the poor family with nothing but change.

[merrill1]

Bull.

[thaggas]

I blame George Bush. If he had destroyed the economy, people wouldn't be killing each other to save ten bucks.

Seriously though, this stuff doesn't happen at Target and Best Buy, stores that have always put an emphasis on employee safety before profit. People are complaining about shoppers who are trying to save a cope dollars, but it was Wal-Mart trying to save millions.

[ScoutandBuckGoodDogs]

I was thinking the SAME thing. Desperation breeds desperation. This is just what the gov't wants. If they get us distracted and fighting each other and killing each other then we won't pay attention to what they're doing to the country.

[RexPrimoris]

This is really an appalling tragedy caused by a toxic mix of greed, unrestrained consumerism and mob-fueled mania. The people responsible for the man's death really need to take a good look at themselves in a mirror, but they're probably too busy salivating over their new, sale-bought plasma TV's.

I only hope Wal-Mart will be sued for wrongful death by the man's family; it's well warranted by the facts as they appear initially. The company has claimed it had adequate security on site to control the situation, but this clearly was not the case. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is well acquainted with the these types of incidents and should have had adequate tactics and personnel on hand to deal with it. The procedures for admitting the crowd in such a scenario need to be revised, obviously. The crowd should be kept well away from the doors of the store prior to opening and admitted at staggered intervals.

[KarateKid]

This is TOTALLY the fault of WalMart. The family of that poor guy should sue the bejesus out of China, Inc.

[sauceruney]

What? You mean the selfish pigs who trampled him are blameless?

[pangurban]

They are definitely to blame but some may have been pushed and had no control over what was happening. Going after Walmart seems the most likely approach because they created the conditions.

[sarimn00]

I think it's the fault of the shoppers who were out of control so they could save a buck. I hope they all get charged.

[brerol]

"Totally"! Oh, please. Even in these times where many are unwilling to take responsibility for there actions there must be others , perhaps you and I, who will hold those individual shoppers responsible for their animal behavior. And Walmart will see its day in court. Trial Attorneys Inc. are licking there chops in anticipation of a zillion $$ windfall.

[glorialovelace]

It's not Wal Mart's fault at all. There are some contingencies that it's not possible to anticipate -- such as your customers being a pack of mindless, bloodthirsty animals.

[drowninginred]

Make a perimeter about 25 ft from the doors, staff it with properly trained securiy, use barricades and ropes... if shoving starts, up with the barricades- shut the doors. Easy fix! It IS Walmart's fault, at least partly. Deal with it!!!!!

[LeftofTerry]

the police should arrest Wal-Mart, not the people who were doing exactly what wal-mart wanted them to.

[RexPrimoris]

So, the crazed shoppers whose greedy natures made them eager to take advantage of Wal-Mart's sale are completely blameless here? Ever hear the phrases "individual responsibility" and "free will?"

[sauceruney]

I'm beginning to wonder if the people who are savaging WalMart are any less a mob-mentality than those who were gathered at its gates to shop. Those people hold blame as well, and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Better security might have prevented this incident, but the sole blame does not lie with the store. There were probably hundreds of stores with the same level of security but the shoppers were able to wait till the doors were opened to get inside like civilized human beings.

[sarimn00]

I agree. It happens at other stores here, too. I didn't hear of any injuries, but people act that way at Target, Best Buy, Macy's....

[Halminbar]

Are you really putting those of us critical of Wal-mart in the same category as people who walked over and killed someone. You really need a sense of proportion.

[brerol]

"....who were doing exactly what Wal-mart wanted them to" I see. Wal-mart now has on its hand a publicity nightmare and this exactly what Walmart wanted? Got it.

[merrill1]

WalMart is tone deaf to bad publicity. They have backed themselves into corners like this several times.

[glorialovelace]

"not the people who were doing exactly what wal-mart wanted them to."

The Fodilla Excuse Factory moves swiftly to transfer the culpability away from the crazed mob and the culture that produced it, to the store that was trying to provide reasonably-priced merchandise for Christmas to these undeserving animals.

[drowninginred]

No- you hold everyone equally responsible.... What is the problem? Why can't you see that Walmart was also to blame?!

[Ms. Lou]

I hope everyone of those 50 inch TVs blows out one day after the warranty expires.
A rotten bunch!

[KarateKid]

What a bunch of animals.

[bluekatz]

Its a MATERIAL WORLD, it was evident when the f00ls did not want to leave the premise when they were told someone was k!ll ed. Its all about ME! ME ! ME! the American WAY these days.

[Eyewideopen]

I agree.

[dct1999]

There is no doubt that many people in the crowd engaged in extremely stupid and dangerous behavior. The problem the authorities have is in proving which of the idiots are actually responsible.

BTW, anyone who had their child in that crowd is guilty of parental neglect.

[OkieIntellectual]

Perhaps that WalMart should've hired Blackwater to do security there. People do tend to form orderly lines and wait their turn when there's guys with M16s all around making them do so.

[SonnyListon]

Great idea. Then instead of people being accidently trampled to death we'll have private military meat-heads accidently shooting people.

[cambridgema]

His name is, Jdimytai Damour. A man is dead. He is not just a football for everyone to punt around as they complain about consumerism. I think the comments here are well intended but they completely elide the fact that he is a person, isn't that, rather than Walmart the problem?

[merrill1]

According to WalMart, he was just a "temporary" person. We already feel the loss. They do not.

[scoochman]

People commenting about the rear crowd pushing the front are right in that respect. But why is it so hard for you to grasp that every single person outside walmart yesterday morning made a conscious choice to be there in the first place? If you are a fully cooked American, you know exactly what you are getting into with Black Friday. Anyone who says they don't know what happens is lying, so no matter if they were in front or in back, they were all to blame for what happened. The pregnant woman who was knocked down should have known better than to put herself and her baby in a position like that. I'm not excusing Wal Mart's complicity in the least - they should be prosecuted for inciting a riot - but if you take the blame away from the people involved, then you are saying that we don't have to be responsible for our decisions.

[dct1999]

When I was 21, I made a conscious choice to go to Times Square and see the ball drop. I got caught in a crowd and was pushed for 3 blocks before I could stop. I was separated from my brothers and cousins and I didn't know what the hellwasgoingon at the time of the incident. It only took a matter of minutes, there was total chaos, people were screaming and crying and searchig for their families and friends. Several people were attacked and robbed.

Am I responsible for any crimes that were committed?

[KarateKid]

It happened to me once, too. My girlfriend was torn from me literally, and she ended up 4 blocks away before I found her. I've never done crowds again.

[ScoutandBuckGoodDogs]

You're missing the point. Scoochman is saying that if you go to a place knowing that the crowd is going to be huge then you bear some responsibility for putting yourself in that situation. It doesn't mean that what happens is YOUR fault (getting robbed etc...) and it doesn't make it OK that bad things happen to you. I see your point though as well. But Scoochman's point is that we all bear some of the responsibility.

[Hamatreya]

Bulldoze the store and build a memorial to the poor man who died there.

[groucho]

Did everyone get their good deals for Christmas? Anything at any cost. I say hang Walmart, they import crap, employ people that can't live on what their full time job earns, and destroy neighborhoods. It's just stupid,,,,oh yeah

[merrill1]

That's the root of it. Too many of our society have become inordinately focussed on getting something for less, whether they need it, or actually even want it. The "deal" seems to be the goal. WalMart survives by working this sick psychology into it highest form. I have boycotted Walmart since I first heard of it, and I recommend others do the same.