Posted on 11/25/2005 2:30:39 PM PST by Shermy
It was a dangerous morning on Black Friday at a West Michigan Wal-Mart.
An impatient crowd stormed the doors in the mad rush to get to those door-buster deals inside.
It was an ugly scene when the doors opened at the Cascade Township Wal-Mart. Hundreds of shoppers pushed and shoved their way into the store, trampling a number of customers, sending two to the hospital.
At 5:00 a.m. the doors opened, holiday shoppers rushed in, and immediately one customer is pushed to the ground.
"This is ridiculous. I do not want my life in danger for this," said shopper Karen Dietstra. "This is not worth it. This has been a tradition for years. I don't think that I have to get beat up to try to get a sale."
Two shoppers from Grand Rapids did. One of them, 13-year-old Deja McHerron, had to be taken away by ambulance.
"They stumbled over a pregnant lady and Deja was trying to help her get up. And they stumbled over her and they stepped on her back. And now she's going to the hospital," said McHerron's mother, Deborah.
Duretha Arnold-Youngblood, 37, was also taken to the hospital, complaining of an injured knee. Her husband, Johnny Youngblood, took issue with what he calls a lack of security. Youngblood believes Wal-Mart should hire trained uniformed security guards to help bring order to the early-morning holiday crowd and not leave those duties to Wal-Mart associates.
"They didn't have no security at all," said McHerron's sister, Sierra.
"Wal-Mart did not do enough to protect us," Dietstra said.
What went wrong? Managers at the Cascade Wal-Mart are not commenting at this time.
24 Hour News 8 phoned Wal-Mart's corporate offices seeking an answer, but nobody has returned our call.
Fer cryin' out loud--if you shop on Black Friday, you'd better be prepared for this kind of nonsense. Personally, I avoid shopping on this day, unless it's online. There is nothing I want bad enough to make it worth putting up with Black Friday madness.
"My dad used to say it was the same type of chaos at Gimbel's in Milwaukee when there was a sale on housecoats about 50 years ago."
You should've seen it back when it was Gimbels-Schusters! Crikey!
I survived Black Friday today. We were even joking around at 5am in line to get into Kohl's (digital cameras for $80!) about how calm and orderly we were all being, LOL!
But then, there weren't any pregnant women or old Grannies to push around. We probably would've gone for the easy prey had they been there. *Rolleyes*
;)
Season's Beatings
Black n Blue light special
Jackie Chiles is already on the case....The ravenous, voracious, gluttonous, capitalists.....will pay.
The xboxes are all going to be recalled anyway. Heh!
I wonder how many of the 42 HDTVs they sold.... Not a bad price for under $1,000.
I cannot understand the mentality of waiting in line to go shopping. But I will not stand in line for anything. Stand in line to eat? NEVER...stand in line to see a movie? If it's longer than a two minute wait, I'm out of there. There was only one time I waited on line to get something...and that was the Cast recording of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE ...signed by Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters and, the most brilliant songwriter ever, STEPHEN SONDHEIM. He even talked to me....I told him I try to do the crossword puzzles he writes for the Sunday London Times. (Have you ever tried one of his puzzles?). I knew I would get his attention if I brought up his puzzles, not many people know he writes them.
Per Madison, people are not angels [and cannot behave themselves], thus the need for the government [and for security]. Are you spouting heresy and doubting the Founder?
"EMTs were called to Wal-Mart as Security personnel were found in their office dying of laughter watching idiots fight over a $1.82 item (original price $3.67) !!!"
LOL!
She'll sue for humiliation...on top of the disabling injuries.....
You are so right-it's not a lack of security,it's a lack of civility.Somebody throws an elbow then someboby throws a punch and presto-instant Jerry Springer show in the parking lot.
They'll be under that price within a year anyway, I'll wait until I can get it at that price without having to wait in line.
I suppose I am. I shall go stand in the corner. :-)
They weren't HDTVs... they were EDTVs with an ATSC HDTV tuner. But I suppose some people don't know the diff and just buy it because it seemed like a bargain. Heh!
I gotta admit that the price of HDTVs tweaked my interest...but not enough to fight the rotundos for entry position at the doors of the local store. I'd likely get pushed through the glass....
This kind of crap ruins the CHRISTmas spirit
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