Savage Wal-Mart Shoppers Trample Worker to Death

[Richard]

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, November 28, 2008

There's probably not a better scene that exemplifies American culture today: A 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death by 200 crazed shoppers this morning as they rushed into the store at 5:00 am to cash in on special discounts.

The mob of shoppers reportedly "took the doors off the hinges," injuring three other people in the stampede. They didn't even stop for emergency crews that were later treating the Wal-Mart employee on the scene -- they just kept rushing past, trying to get their share of the Wal-Mart discounts on "Black Friday," the biggest shopping day of the year.

Just how jacked up is American culture, anyway, when rushing to get some shopping done is more important than stopping to pick someone up off the floor and save their life? The herd mentality has taken over. Literally. All the advertising, commercial brainwashing, brand imprinting and the push to get people to own more stuff has led to this insane reality where people think that shopping is the key to happiness, and they're willing to do anything to get it.

Of course, this mentality isn't limited to America, but I think America exemplifies it best when we witness stampeding Wal-Mart shoppers killing a fellow human being.

I suppose now they'll have to post big signs on the Wal-Mart front doors: "Please don't trample employees." Or, better yet, the Wal-Mart employees should just be issued electrified cattle prods, and the shoppers can be corralled into branding chutes where they're branded with ID numbers and fitted with ear tags. This would allow Wal-Mart security cameras to identity which members of the herd are responsible for causing the most death and destruction.

After all, if the people are going to act like cattle, we might as well treat 'em like cattle.

It should be noted here that even though the Wal-Mart shoppers stampeded over a human being, they did not stampede over their coveted consumer electronics or big-screen TVs. No merchandise in the store was harmed in the stampede, which just goes to show you: To the herd, the value of a human life is LESS than the value of consumer electronics.

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Savage Wal-Mart Shoppers Trample Worker to Death

From Nydailynews.com: A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.... more 

http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000558_W...ality.html

[Mercy Now]

This(the above Long Island incident) is shameful.

[Menkaure]

Soccer-Moms on the rampage!
"The herd mentality..." You got that right, Richard. How sad.

[Richard]

I can’t imagine any sane person wanting to participate in shopping madness like that. I have never shopped on black Friday and I never will.

Below is a link to some photos.

Wal-Mart Death Witness - 'They Were Savages' - Photos

News from UFCW Local 1500

Union Responds To Death of Long Island Wal-mart Worker
Demands Federal Safety Agency and Nassau County Prosecutor Investigate

QUEENS VILLAGE, NY (11/28/2008; 1514)(readMedia)-- United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, New York State's largest grocery workers Union, has called for an immediate investigation by Federal, State and Local authorities into the "avoidable" death of a Wal-mart worker at the Valley Stream, Long Island Wal-mart. Specifically, the Union has called on the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the New York State Department of Labor and the Nassau County Prosecutor to investigate Wal-mart's failure to provide a safe workplace.

"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?" asked President Both. "This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-mart. UFCW Local 1500 will demand a full investigation by all levels of Government to ensure both justice for the surviving family members and to ensure the safety of current employees and the general public. This can never be allowed to happen again and those responsible must be held accountable," Both concluded.

Director of Special Projects for Local 1500 Patrick Purcell called Wal-mart's comments in response to the incident both "cold and heartless." "If the safety of their customers and workers was a top priority, then this never would have happened," Purcell stated. "Wal-mart must step up to the plate and ensure that all those injured, as well as the family of the deceased, be financially compensated for their injuries and their losses. Their words are weak. The community demands action," Purcell concluded.

Purcell also suggested that people visit the website http://www.walmartcrimereport.com/ to review other incidents of Wal-mart not providing a safe work and shopping experience.

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, based out of Queens Village, represents over 23,000 grocery workers in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties. Members of Local 1500 are employed by Pathmark, King Kullen, Stop and Shop, Gristedes, Fairway, D'agastinos, Key Food and Shop Rite.

http://readme.readmedia.com/news/show/Un...ker/308889

[Sily]

This is awful!  :(

I heard that locally, in Salisbury, at the Wal-Mart, there were 3 separate fights between customers regarding taking *things* out of another's cart.  I told husband... "man.... that takes balls the size of Texas" -- to take something out of another customer's cart.

[Mercy Now]

From the pic's I've seen of the WalMart  of where this occurred there were as many ,if not more ,men rushing those doors as women. The regional news pics of local Black Friday sales also depicted just as many,if not more, men being the first to rush the doors. One store ,a local Target, showed all men being the first through the doors.

Sily, I frequent a thrift store that receives much of it's donations from a very afflulent base. There I encounter another woman that also frequents this same shop and though I don't know her personally I do know who she is and that she lives amongst those that donate.Whenever  she and I are  shopping at the same time she always comes over and rummages through my cart. I have caught her attempting to take as well. She pretends like she didn't know it was someones cart etc. I suppose all the money she spends on her  obvious, regular procedures has left her desperate.:?

[Sily]

That is so over the top MN - to be rummaging through someone's cart!  Some have their kids in their carts, purses, wallets.... I think it's a matter of boundaries. Well.. and manners.  Besides that, it would mean I'd have to go back to the aisle from which the item was taken and I'd have to shop all over again!  What a waste of time.

I'm pretty sure Black Friday shopping isn't part of my *programming*.  I stayed home yesterday and re-arranged the bedroom so one of my 3 dogs would have a bigger place on the floor to sleep. 

[Mercy Now]

I've never been shopping in one of those "madness " sales ...ever and have no intention to do so. My mother-in-law used to try and get me to go but no deal. I don't even like to do regular shopping.

Yes Sily, I even remarked to that woman at one time  "Boundaries!!". She just moved away and wouldn't look at me. The clerks at the store who also live and travel socially amongst the affluent base of donors have said she does this quite often.

[Richard]

Sought: Wal-Mart shoppers who trampled NY worker

By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writer 
1 hr 22 mins ago
 
NEW YORK – Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.

Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday's video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was 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. The store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening at a mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the employee, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour, 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," Fleming said. He described the scene as "utter chaos," and said the store didn't have enough security.

Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help Damour were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store.

Damour, 34, of Queens, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, where she and the baby were reported to be OK, said police Sgt. Anthony Repalone.

Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling `I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said. "They kept shopping."

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.

"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted."

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.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day when stores broke into profitability for the full year.

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_o...wBvAus0NUE