And he was not the only casualty. 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….
“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too…I literally had to fight people off my back.”
33 comments
Comments are closed.
Pavlov (news media) rang the bell (Black Friday news stories) last night and some people definitely responded…
Why shouldn’t the news media goose up Black Friday? After all, their revenues are tied to the fate of their sponsors, no?
It’s a little misleading. A large group of people funneling into a smaller area cause a huge squeeze. The squeeze gives the impression to those in the back that the line is moving forward so they don’t pull back and keep pressing forward.
The rush that kills the clerk is just as likely to be panic stricken people trying to keep from being crushed to death as starry eyed people trying to be first to the buy 2 get 1 free table.
Interestingly the article has been updated to eliminate the reference to the pregnant woman miscarrying. It now just says that she was knocked down and is hospitalized for observation.
It isn’t Black Friday unless an American dies just so someone can save a few bucks. Disgusting.
doesn’t this happen ever Black Friday?
Doesn’t WM benefit from the free marketing as these reports echo about the MSM chanber?
Shouldn’t the relatives of the dead clerk sue and be awarded an eight figure settlement as punishment for WM’s ongoing neglect and endangerment of their employees?
He sacrificed his life so that a plastic trinket from China might live.
I live in the NYC area too. My wife is shocked by this, she thought this sort of thing only happens in “developing” countries.
It would be a lot easier to comprehend if those azz hats lined up at the doors were starving, not buying plastic trash soon to be at a garage sale near you.
omfg
Hard not to view that as a metaphor, of sorts.
I would sue the shit out of wal-mart for $10.5 Billion!
See: Foreseeability
The most common test of proximate cause is foreseeability. It determines if the harm resulting from an action was reasonably able to be predicted. The test is used in most cases only in respect to the type of harm. It is foreseeable that throwing a baseball at someone could cause them a blunt-force injury. But proximate cause is still met if a thrown baseball misses the target and knocks a heavy object off a shelf behind them, which causes a blunt-force injury.
This is also known as the “extraordinary in hindsight” rule.
Re: Shoppers around the country lined up early outside stores in the annual bargain hunting ritual known as Black Friday. Many stores open early and stay open late, and some of the most dramatic bargains are available in limited quantities.
The WMT Corp will not participate in another Black Friday Killing, trust me!
Also see: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has settled a wrongful death lawsuit claiming a pharmacist at a Frederick store sold a too-strong insulin drug to a diabetic man who died after taking it. Terms of the settlement reached during a mediation session in Baltimore were kept confidential.
The case was settled amicably, with no admission of liability or fault by anyone.
Yves,
This is a pretty quick scoop on your part, am I to take this to mean you were shopping at the scene of the crime when this went down? :-)
I knew that we had gotten past the enlightenment period is some way and I guess godless consumerism is the new paganism under the guise of fundamentalism. Hypocrisy knows no bounds for these people.
Wal-Mart worker gets killed to buy child-labor made junk. Happy birthday Jesus!
Shopping is now officially a blood sport. Like soccer
in the U.K.
Must have been some killer deals at WM!
What kind of “shoppers” are we talking about here? Inquiring minds etc.
Latest bloodsport update: @ more dead in a ToysRus in Palm Desert California.
Just wondering, is anything going to be done about this? Shouldn’t people in that area contact their representatives? Are any national groups or local groups going to get involved? Or does this just disappear, and I’m naive for thinking that any positive changes could be made from a disgusting incident like this?
Thank you advertising, with your psychological warfare, Thank you manufactures and their outlets of doom.
Funny this is been going on for so long, Mercury/lead in products, poor health standards with food processing. The list is just endless, all in the name of consumption for profit. Hell just do some reading on the food industry, back to 1850 and have a reality check.
Has being American come down to, freedom to be treated like free-range cattle, till the market needs our hides.
Early Education needs to be about more than fitting in to some economic slot in the landscape. As a hunter/gathers would teach their children the environment, both gives us life and can take it away. We just have to teach them to see the camouflaged snake in the grass, before its to late.
Skippy
They should have arrested every single person who entered the store and charged them with manslaughter! I hate walmart, they only perpetuate this crap. They started it in the first place years ago and it’s time it is stopped!
It is just discusting how those heartless bastards would put some bucks above someone’s life. It is also walmart’s fault by having no organization of all these people. No lines, no anything, just an angry mob trying to save some money. As for the shoppers, I hope their plastic trinkets from china were worth it because they’ll have to think about how they killed someone to get it every time they use it.
Amazon.com
Because Nobody Gets Trampled At Our Website
Doc Halliday…
WMT is already laying the ground work for its defense. From the company’s website:
“Last Updated: Friday, November 28, 2008
UPDATED – Walmart Statement on Black Friday Incident at Valley Stream Store
We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased. We are continuing to work closely with local law enforcement and we are reaching out to those involved.”
– Hank Mullany, Senior Vice President and President, Northeast Division, Walmart U.S.”
Suppose that next year we are in a real depression.
Suppose that folks in that crowd are VERY hungry. And they all suspect/believe that there is only enough food inside to feed one out of ten of them.
What happens then?
Crowd control 101: snake the line in an s formation with a series of ropes and stanchions.
You fucking human waste motherfuckers that would trample another human being for a christmas deal should be shot in the fucken face and then burned at the stake, see you in hell motherfucker!
americans (lower case intended) you turned from citizens into chewing, burbing, belching CONSUMERS your fucked up government pulling your strings, making you to consume cheap crap from China and feel happy. Lambs! Keep chowing and you will be called to the meat plant when thives from your government will need some more protein to feed there fat friends…
“we are reaching out to those involved”: he’s not even got the decency to speak English rather than management burble.
The Fed should just harvest the organs of these pre-dawn proles to help finance their operations.
I took the time to read each entry.
First, learn to spell.
Second, 99 percent of the people who responded need a lesson in simple understanding of human behavior. People who only care about themselves will do whatever needs to be done to satisfy their greatest love, themselves. Killing someone in order to get what they want is just the symptom to the problem. Wal Mart is NOT at fault. The citizens of Long Island should come together and demand justice in the finding and prosecution of the people who killed this man. Unfortunately, they won’t. They will look at the “evil” corporation and point blame for walmarts daring to exist to provide you with the things you buy. You know if you hate walmart so much, don’t shop there. The fact of the matter is that people only want to line their pockets and walmart is the vehicle they see to be able to this. THIS is the downfall of America, that its citizens behave in such a manner as to embarass the animals that also inhabit this planet. Those that are supposed to be lower in intelligence but have better social skills and are more socially concerned for their species. THIS is the true tragedy of America. Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.
Money is the root of all evil.
The material world is not worth it. Pray for better luck next year
and hope for the best.
Sorry above,
Its the “love” of money that is the root of all evil. Money in its self is just an object, it takes humans to assign it a value and react to it good or bad way.
Skippy