It really was Black Friday
2008.11.30 05:13 PM Filed in: Current Events
What is wrong with people these days? Have you heard of the Wal-Mart employee in the US who was literally trampled to death in a stampede of shoppers bursting into the store as it opened at 5:00am on Friday November 28th? Thanksgiving in the US falls on the fourth Thursday of November, and the Friday after that is known as Black Friday. Black Friday is, apparently, one of if not the largest shopping day of the year (similar to Boxing Day in Canada - the day after Christmas). Black Friday usually has stores opening up early and having huge sales.
Well, it appears that the overwhelming greed of the masses eager to ring in the start of the Christmas shopping season were too busy trying to save a few bucks to care for the person knocked down by customers when the doors opened, instead stepping over and on him until he died as a result of the injuries. A very, very sad statement indeed. My condolences go to the family of Jdimytai Damour.
Here is a snippet from the article on CBC. The full article can be viewed at http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/28/walmart-death.html
Frenzied shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.
Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store. When told to leave, some complained that they had been in line since Thursday morning.
Nassau County police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour of Queens, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.
"This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos," and said the store didn't have enough security. Damour, 34, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. It said it tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.
Well, it appears that the overwhelming greed of the masses eager to ring in the start of the Christmas shopping season were too busy trying to save a few bucks to care for the person knocked down by customers when the doors opened, instead stepping over and on him until he died as a result of the injuries. A very, very sad statement indeed. My condolences go to the family of Jdimytai Damour.
Here is a snippet from the article on CBC. The full article can be viewed at http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/28/walmart-death.html
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A Wal-Mart worker has died after being trampled by a throng of shoppers shortly after a store opened Friday on Long Island in New York State, police said.Frenzied shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.
Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store. When told to leave, some complained that they had been in line since Thursday morning.
Nassau County police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour of Queens, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.
"This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos," and said the store didn't have enough security. Damour, 34, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. It said it tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.