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

[Trogenhorse]

This is not about unions it is about what we as Americans have decided to accept. Walmart should be ashamed of themselves for the un needed hype. The shoppers should have the ghost of that poor employee haunt them nightly. Really have we become this kind of a society?

[SonnyListon]

Answer: yes.

[lisakaz2]

Geez, they just gotta match up the receipts before the store closed. Duh!

[dct1999]

So anybody who bought with a credit card or check card is guilty, and those who paid cash are innocent? Seriously?

[slaxx]

yup...i doubt criminal charges will be filed though. of course the situation warrants investigation and they will probably want to interview the people to get a better understanding of the situtation.

[Opinionater]

Attention shoppers, soylent green is on sale on aisle 117.

[Hamatreya]

Bwaha ha! A byproduct of Wal Mart's retirement plan. Liver and Unions.

[Pulemerci]

Wal-Mart could have done A LOT MORE to ensure a safe entrance into the store. How about extra security officers, barricades, maybe request the local police to respond too. That being said, the people who would trample another human being to death to get a flat screen TV for a good price are the most to blame. The fact that they complained when the police evicted them from the crime scene indicates the callousness of this crowd.

[UncleJimbo]

It gives "Shop Till Ya Drop" a whole new meaning! Some people just don't give a damn!

[sonoffestus]

Nothing , absolutely nothing purchased in Wal-mart is allowed in our home or garden.
We tell friends and relatives to return anything they may have purchased for us at Wal-mart. We would rather have them donate the money to a good cause than purchase anything at a Walmart.
They do not treat their employees, nor their suppliers decently. I would rather do without than purchase their cheap crap. I went into one store once and within minutes left feeling sick.

[Village]

Wal Mart free since 1990. DO NOT shop at Wal Mart. It's anti-American.

[SonnyListon]

I 100% agree.

[Hamatreya]

Same here. Take it back, put the money in your pocket. Thanks anyway. No WM, ever.

[Philm35]

Why are so many quick to blame Wal-Mart for this incident? I'm not a Wal-Mart fan by any stretch, but let's not forget that every single person in that mob was an individual capable of making decisions, and it was THOSE decisions, made by THOSE people that lead to that poor young man's death.

Yes, Wal-Mart could have done more to prevent the tragedy, but the ultimate responsibility lies with those who put their relentless greed above humanity and civility.

[dct1999]

Corporate responsibility

[theotherfringe]

Because mankind has displayed innumberable times that self-control is hard to manage in a crowd. Walmart allowed this crowd to collect in front of the store entrance and did nothing to manage the situation properly.

[whosyourdaddy]

Beyond security guards, which were in place, what else would you recommend they had done?

[OlderBudWeiser]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[DarwinAtWork]

This is fundamentally an OSHA issue. Walmart has the responsibility of maintaining a safe workplace - and controlling their customers. If Best Buy can forsee these kind of situations and hand out claim tickets to queued people, it would be hard to convince a jury that Walmart couldn't anticipate such occurences as well.

[whosyourdaddy]

Walmart should have anticipated people tearing the doors off the hinges?

[dct1999]

The people were pushed into the doors, the force of the crowd is what caused the hinges to tear away from the doors.

[sherrzinpa]

Definitely not excusing what happened at all, but those doors are SO easy to knock off track. I worked at a Wal Mart about 4 years ago and I was moving one of those electric scooters back to the plugs so I could plug it in, and I lightly bumped into one when it was open and it flew off.

[drowninginred]

The doors are intentionally made to give easily.. they are made that way in case of a fire or a disaster in the store so that people can get out easily... So yes, Walmart should have known

[billblow3]

F'ing ANIMALS thats all I have to say.

[theotherfringe]

Walmart management had hours to figure out that there was going to be a problem, especially with the growing crowd of people waiting at the doors hours before opening time. Anyone remember the Who concert in Cincinnati back in the '80? Once the people behind those closest to the entrance starting pushing, there was nothing those in front could do about the forward momentum except go forward or get crushed. Walmart has to take responsibility for this. Finding the people who actually killed this man will be impossible.

[dct1999]

The people who trampled the man were pushed into the doors, the pressure of the crowd tore the doors from their hinges. As is usual with stampedes, the people at the rear were the cause of the panic, pushing, shoving, running and trampling. The people at the front were not in control of what was happening. If they'd fallen they would have been trampled too.

They are targeting the wrong people.

[NotMcCain]

Every year, someone is crushed by a crowd of shoppers.

I think Wal Mart is trying to protect itself from the inevitable lawsuits from the injured. They were DEFINITELY negligent in just throwing doors open to a crowd of 2000 people--based on past experiences.

The point about the pressure of the crowd at the rear on those at the front is an important one.

[slaxx]

you're right - there's nothing you can do when people are pushing you from behind. it's nearly impossible to try and stop and help someone when you're being shoved through. plus, anyone who would try to stop would be trampled themselves.

the people in the back were pushed as well and of course they had no idea what was going on in front of them.

[Artamentous]

The WalMart near me just let people in all night, and wouldn 't let them buy anything until a certain time.

[gloryoski]

My heart goes out to his family and friends. This is the first time I have been able to read/watch anything about this it upsets me so much. I think I was able to do so now because the headline had something about the shoppers/murderers maybe being punished. Retail workers and other services employees are famously victims of verbal abuse and occasionally physical (air-rage incidents, etc), but this extreme case shows the sick, dehumanizing effect of our consumer culture is only worsening.
And I'm not going to put it on the recession, because WalMart especially has been gearing up for something like this for a long time, starting in good economic times. It's about certain people being non-people to other people--and it often seems to be worse with the "low end" shopper. They want to give back the abuse they may be getting themselves elsewhere been getting elsewhere and they know customer service people can't object. Killing somebody for a five-dollar Tivo or whatever it was...sick sick sick.
And most of us might as well be stepping over the bodies of the Chinese people who make what they sell there, and everywhere else.

[stefiz]

consumeris­m... isn't it beautiful!!!
you better hurry to your local walmart because they might run out of cheap plastic crap from china... there is only a limited amount you know!!!

[dogman44]

Competitive, agressive, violent, consumerism. It's a way of life. Even seemingly docile sheep
can be dangerous in great numbers. Especially when it's time to be sheared.