Posted on 11/28/2008 7:02:13 AM PST by GQuagmire
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, witnesses said.
The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
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OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really hated being dragged to stores on Black Friday. I guess that explains not only my avoidance of it now, but my basic dislike of shopping in general.
I can understand why! It’s bad enough seen through the eyes of an adult. I can only imagine it from a child’s perspective!
This is a terrible thing, both for its happening, and for the fact that it is nothing new. Large crowds need crowd control, end of story. The Who concert in Cincy back in 1979 should have driven that point home.
The people who trampled this poor man are responsible for his death, and I hope (but am not holding my breath) that there will be arrests and prosecutions of those involved.
IMHO, though, Wal-Mart also deserves some blame for creating an unsafe situation in the first place. For a store of that size, with an event like Black Friday, having extra security on hand or other procedures in place to ensure safety is (or should be) the cost of doing business.
Prayers for the friends and family of this poor guy.
The video shows customers remarking on the EMT not using mouth-to-mouth during CPR. “He don’t wanna touch his mouth”. Video seems to confirm this. Proper procedure?
“that’s what happens in times of economic peril.”
well then our country must have been in economic peril every single year, because this kind of thing happens every year.. this is what happens when people are stupid, greedy, and forget the true meaning of Christmas.
“Animals kill their young? No.
Only people do.”
wow.. you’ve never owned rodents, dogs, or cats..have ya? lots of animals kill (and eat) their young.. both domestic and in the wild.
I have been in crowds like this before like general admission for the USC-Notre Dame game and seen kids fall etc.
It doesn't take an Einstien to see that they were totally unprepared even to the point of building integrity.
I work for Wal-Mart and I don’t find this funny at all.
Animals kill their young all the time. They don’t have abortions, but wait until they’re born and then kill them.
USC/Notre Dame tickets are $75 for general admission. At that price, they can afford a lot of security. I don't think that WalMart or any other respectable retailer needs to start charging admission to their store.
I wouldn't be too quick to blame WalMart for this - WalMart didn't rush the store like a gang of hooligans, the perpetrators did. It's the thugs that caused this, not WalMart. The thug's lawyers might be interested in blaming WalMart for this, but the reality is that the store is not at fault any more than a murder victim or a gun manufacturer is at fault if somebody commits murder with one.
What difference does the price make. These people were going to spend hundreds at WalMart. This was 1964 and hundreds of people were funneled through a two foot wide gate. Kids were knocked down and everyone was yelling.
Tell me again how WalMart can't afford to create a more secure walk-in system for one day. That should be a good point in court.
They have had problems the last 5 years. So they had a responsibility to make it safer on their property.
If they didn't have the money, then they should have eliminated the bargains and discounts which caused hundreds of people to line up at the door, as they knew they would. That doesn't happen any other day.
Of course, the store was at fault. They are culpable for drawing the crowd, how the crowd lines up, and how it enters the store.
If someone wants to murder someone and you call them and tell them where the intended wictim is, of course you are guilty.
Get a life. Don’t make me laugh. The bad parenting is giving the kids every thing they want without question in the first place!!! The other person who responded about it being the parents possessions is probably more right. If the house burned down or got broken into and everything was gone, the PARENTS insurance would replace everything, not the kids. You can’t have it both ways.
This is a flippin' retail store, for cryin' out loud. Civilized people, including myself, walk in and out of these establishments on a daily basis. At the WalMart here, it's open 24/7. This stuff just doesn't happen when normal people are involved.
There's no need for some type of expensive delaying scheme to stop this kind of thing. It's not WalMart's duty or anybody else's duty to control the behavior of free individuals. What's needed is that the perpetrators spend some time in jail for the murder of a store employee.
Trying to pass the blame on the innocent is the trademark of a trial lawyer.
The theatre knows when Spiderman is opening they will have a large early crowd. They set up special ticket booths, they have a designated roped off line, and they have employees work the line. In most big cities, they have security personnel.
Nobody's passing the blame. I'm identifying the culpability of a company who has had this sitauation before and was unprepared for it today and had an employee murdered, a baby miscarry, because they're exercising some capitalistic negligence, non-responsibility you are wrongfully shielding them with.
If you don't know how to secure the front of a store, to channel the people entering, just ask. It doesn't take a fortune to do it.
Your lack of knowledge doesn't provide cover for the stores gross negligence.
So you are a trial lawyer. Pretty easy to spot really. Isn't a bit early to be drumming up business?
You said that “One must always consider that [the] kinds of people that even come out for these things... a lot of them are the people who are VERY LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (thus, need the deals)and many are the greedy selfish types that will do anything to save a buck.”
So, I take it that you wouldn’t be caught dead shopping with the lowlife at Walmart? We should all strive to be gain your perceived elitist status. Lady, here’s a fact....everyone’s stinks, even yours.
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