Only in America
A Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York was trampled to death by a crush of shoppers who tore down the front doors and thronged into the store early Friday morning, turning the annual rite of post-Thanksgiving bargain hunting into a Hobbesian frenzy.
At 4:55 a.m., just five minutes before the doors were set to open, a crowd of 2,000 anxious shoppers started pushing, shoving and piling against the locked sliding glass doors of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., Nassau County police said. The shoppers broke the doors off their hinges and surged in, toppling a 34-year-old temporary employee who had been waiting with other workers in the store’s entryway.
People did not stop to help the employee as he lay on the ground, and they pushed against other Wal-Mart workers who were trying to aid the man. The crowd kept running into the store even after the police arrived, jostling and pushing officers who were trying to perform CPR, the police said.
“They were like a stampede,” said Nassau Det. Lt. Michael Fleming. “Hundreds of people walked past him, over him or around him.”
Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death by Customers
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November 28th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Just plain reprehensible.
The police should suppoeana (sp?) the credit card numbers and names of the first 2-500 people that bought stuff that morning. They should then contact them, haul them in, and interrogate them…possibly charge them with something like negligent homicide. Then, they should post the videos online and ask for identification of the people that knocked into the now dead worker. And finally, the family of the dead and injured should sue Walmart.
This situation is pathetic and disguisting. I hope the people that first entered that Walmart now live with the knowledge that they may have killed a human as they rushed to buy cheap toys. I hope they have a Merry Christmas…oh, one more thing…I am not very religious, but I doubt Jesus would be impressed with killing someone for a good discount on toys that shoppers will give to thier children during a holiday in his name…
November 28th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
This makes me sick. Only in America is right. I can’t beleive the greed and insensitivity…we’re talking about ‘STUFF’ here, stuff that is deemed more valuable than human life by these people. No, not people – monsters. For what? So they can have a wonderful holiday with all their cheap stuff, but someone is dead, and that person’s loved ones will be suffering now because of his senseless death…all because of GREED.
Time for the families of these victims to SUE WAL-MART to the fullest extent of the law. SUE them – for having these sales and NOT CONTROLLING THE CROWDS ON THEIR PROPERTY, which causes DEATH for an innocent victim. I am ashamed of these people and of the companies that allow and promote this. This is not the first time someone has been trampled because of these ’sales’.
November 28th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
One expects sharks or jackals to behave like animals – they are hard wired to be scavengers and opportunists. But these people without morals are worse than animals because humans are hard wired to care about others. But somehow they have managed to block out any kind of caring for anything or anyone but themselves. How incredibly tragic – it does not make me proud to be an American when the world reads about this stuff! May God help us!!!
November 28th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I can’t say it better than Stacy. This is truely a sick world we live . Its a world where Stuff is way more important than human life . I will go so far as to say, the manufacturing of stuff is more important than the polution we generate to make this stuff and a lot of the packaging and the stuff itself breaks and gets thrown out , just adding to the carbon footprint. Its a vicious cycle if you can see my point. People dead, people getting shot at–over what? What ever happened to peace on earth–oh i forgot, we throw that out the window, we just use religion whenever it suiyts our purpose, otherwise being good to your fellow man is not an option. Religion is such a crock—get a grip people!
November 28th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
This is truly sickening. A stampede of consumers driven by greed stormed the gates at Wal-Mart. To get what? The necessities of life…flat screen TVs, XBox, HP Computers, & the “must have” toys. The holidays have devolved to a trite exercise of oneupmanship.
People are truly suffering without food & shelter across the world. My family has opted not to waste money buying each other trivial gifts. Adults will not exchange and the children were each asked to pick their choice of charities. We will donate in the child’s’ name to ASPCA, Cure Autism Now, Locks of Love, a local fire department and RAINN. I am not suggesting this for everyone; it’s our families way of creating a tradition and not be pressured into a lifestyle that is decided by advertising agencies and manufacturers.
My heartbreaks for this man’s family. His death is symbolic of the lack compassion and empathy, and absolute greed that has infected this country.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Un-believable!!! Watch the video – charge the f*cken a**holes who lead the charge. Un f*ucking believable. Its this kind of behavior that makes us (Americans) hated almost everywhere. Its embarrassing to be an American today – what a bunch of f*ucking losers we are – SHAME ON US!!! A person is DEAD – because we are greedy stupid people. We deserve everything that has happened and is going to happen to us….I can’t even type anymore without my blood pressure going through the roof – get the video PROSECUTE EVERYBODY – fu*ken assholes. And NO its not Walmarts fault – its our fault the problem is within each of us – un-fu*ken believable – tell that guys family merry Christmas. They should make every person that broke the line and created the kaos have to apologize to his family – everyone of them – stupid Fuc*ers.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I’m sorry I apologize for the swearing in the last post – but I can’t edit it out now. Lost my cool….didn’t do the “write and then think before pushing submit” rule. I don’t feel any different, but the language was too harsh. My apologies.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
On November 4, 2008 we stood in long lines to vote our consciences and we did not push and shove. We came together as a nation to vote for change and we respected each other while we waited. I felt so proud to be an American. Today I feel ashamed. What happened at Wal-Mart today is much worse than the greed of CEO’s – worse than executives spending the tax payers money for luxury hotel rooms and spas. A man lost his life because of others’ greed. How did we get to the place where we value objects more than someone’s life?
November 29th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Not only in America:
3 dead, 31 injured in supermarket stampede in China
http://www.china.org.cn/english/news/231507.htm
November 29th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Yeah, that is unbelievable!!!!
November 30th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Imagine if it were for food…seriously.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
So….we need to prosecute a “mob” whilst we let the pirates of capital sail off into the sunset after looting the Treasury?