Wal-Mart Stampede Ends In Death For Employee

That happy face logo of Wal-Mart's seems pretty ironic today as a throng of suburban New York shoppers crashed through the doors of a Nassau County Wal-Mart and trampled a 34-year-old part-time worker to death. A crowd of 2000 people had already lined up outside the store by 5:00am this morning. People in the real of the crowd began pushing and soon the crowd broke through the glass doors and rushed into the store.

As they did they knocked Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens to the floor and proceeded to trample him to death in a mad rush for bargains.

Aside from the horrific idea that buying cheap crap at Wal-Mart was more important than a human life, this was an entirely preventable death and that is also shocking. Why the store had insufficient preparations for the crowd, had not given employees training in crowd control and had insufficient security on hand should be the subject of a big fat lawsuit.

I was watching a program on TV last night showing at least 5 scenes of shoppers doing similar things in the past, though no deaths were involved. The videos showed people first crowding and then being pressed forward through too-narrow doors and passageways and some falling. Instead of helping the fallen shoppers to their feet, the crowd simply walked over and around them as though they were simple an inconvenience.

I had remarked to my partner that it was amazing no one had been killed in these "black Friday" sore promotions, and BINGO, my prediction paid off in a tragic way.

Crowds have an energy and mind of their own. even people who are decent and law abiding can turn into an ugly mob in the right circumstances. I would be quick to criticize the shoppers for being inhuman, but their actions are all too human. Whether we like it or not, we still have a certain amount of "herd mentality" in us, and in the worst cases it comes out. The Wal-Mart stampede is just an example of that.

What we can do to prevent this in the future is avoid creating circumstances where this thinking takes over. We could start by making sure anyone who is planning a mass event like this sale, has proper preparation and a permit, much like a Parade Permit for a public event. This might keep greedy retailers from pulling stunts that cause these kinds of accidents.