Nov

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

How important is a bargain to you?

Black Friday this year was especially difficult at a Wal-Mart in Long Island, NY. The store opened at 5am promising great deals. Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old temporary Wal-Mart employee attempted to open the doors, as some 2,000 Wal-Mart shoppers “physically broke down the doors”, knocked him to the floor, and then stampeded over his body until he was dead.

“At the Wal-Mart, police say that a line began forming at 9 p.m. Thursday and that, by 5 a.m. Friday, there were as many as 2,000 customers outside. A video showed about a dozen people knocked to the ground as the doors were opened and the crowd surged, breaking the doors.” In addition to the death of Damour, a woman miscarried, and three others were injured. Shoppers still running into the store, jostled paramedics as they attempted to provide first aid to Damour.

“This incident was avoidable,” said Bruce both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the largest grocery worker’s union in the state of New York.

“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?

“This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart,” he said.

Wal-Mart should have done more to ensure the safety of their employees and customers however, how could so many people run by a man in obvious duress in the pursuit of a bargain?