Jump to content

did you fight the black friday crowds?


stutters

Recommended Posts

this is embarrassing.

via AP

Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.

 

Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday's video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.

 

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

 

At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries. The store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

 

Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening at a mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the employee, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.

 

"This crowd was out of control," Fleming said. He described the scene as "utter chaos," and said the store didn't have enough security.

 

Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help Damour were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store.

 

Damour, 34, of Queens, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.

 

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, where she and the baby were reported to be OK, said police Sgt. Anthony Repalone.

 

Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."

 

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling I've been on line since yesterday morning" she said. "They kept shopping."

 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. It said it tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.

 

"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted."

 

A woman reported being trampled by overeager customers at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in Farmingdale, about 15 miles east of Valley Stream, Suffolk County police said. She suffered minor injuries, but finished shopping before filling the report, police said.

 

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day when stores broke into profitability for the full year.

 

Items on sale at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart included a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9.

 

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national...ticleid=1135572

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like typical New Yorkers, heh. This would be a perfect way to exterminate vermin from the planet...

 

1. Open doors at 5am

2. Shut doors at 5:02am

3. Release poison gas

4. Enjoy show from outside.

 

People like that disgust me...a poor guy just trying to make a few bucks get killed because crazed shoppers had to get to that TV first....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thats why I shop amazon.com :)

Yeah..I saw those sweet Black Friday deals for 32" LCD Tv's and thought....damn, I need one of those for our bedroom, so I logged into Newegg.com, and behold, the same TV, same price, didn't even have to get up, and since sales tax here is 8.75%, the shipping was cheaper than paying tax, so I saved a few bucks :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thats why I shop amazon.com :)

Yeah..I saw those sweet Black Friday deals for 32" LCD Tv's and thought....damn, I need one of those for our bedroom, so I logged into Newegg.com, and behold, the same TV, same price, didn't even have to get up, and since sales tax here is 8.75%, the shipping was cheaper than paying tax, so I saved a few bucks :D

 

I stayed up until 2am cst (midnight pst) for the Newegg.com Black Friday sales and the server crashed! I stayed up for a hour after that and the site was still not letting me use the checkout system, so I just went to bed since I had to work the next day. The next morning I woke up at 8am and Newegg was working again so I just bought my goodies in the morning. I was worried that they'd sell out, but I guess not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...