Walmart Worker Trampled to Death in Valley Stream

[Matt Molnar]

I hope the security cameras are able to help find the animals who did this. Green Acres shoppers live up to their stellar reputation once again.


Wal-Mart worker dies in Black Friday stampede (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-limart1129,0,7044659,print.story)

BY JOSEPH MALLIA and JONATHAN STARKEY

[email protected]

12:07 PM EST, November 28, 2008

A 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker died Friday morning after "a throng of shoppers... physically broke down the doors" and knocked him to the ground as the crowd pushed its way into the store at a Valley Stream mall, Nassau police said.

One police officer told Newsday the prelude to the death at the Green Acres Mall was "a mob scene." The man who died was a temporary, part-time Wal-Mart worker, the officer said.

Shoppers who surged into the store were asked to leave by Wal-Mart workers, some of them crying and visibly upset, said one shopper, Kimberly Cribbs, of Far Rockaway.

Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers' requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit, Cribbs said.

"They kept shopping. It's not right. They're savages," said Cribbs.

[MarkLawrence]

MSNBC also said a pregnant lady was also hurt and might have miscarried - what a scene! Very sad!

[T-Bird76]

These people are nothing more then savages and I hope they can be brought up on some kind of criminal charge so that on Christmas morning they are rotting in a prison cell with Bubba.

I'll say it again and I don't want hear "oh the stores open that early because there's demand." THESE STORES NEED TO BE HELD SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS and in this case criminally. F#$K the demand...IT doesn't exist in the first place! The retailer creates this artificial demand that creates this mind set that you have to shop! They're is NO reason these stores need to be open at 4AM...midnight the night before or w/e... We need to restore social values back in this country and big business better step up. Well I hope little Johnny..or in this case since its Valley Stream...little Miguel is happy with his toy that Mommy got him after killing someone just trying to make an honest living. I'm totally disgusted....

[cancidas]

We need to restore social values back in this country and big business better step up
amen!

[PhilDernerJr]

I remember when I was little and stores like Alexander and Caldor would open at 9am. No gimmicks or anything....and moms from all over would gather around the doors and rush in. "Doorbusters" or not, this is what happens around Xmas time. I honestly don't blame the stores.

Regardless the people tearing through the doors are animals and should be arrested for murder.

[NIKV69]

they are rotting in a prison cell with Bubba.



Bill Clinton is in jail? :mrgreen:

Hello lawsuit, Walmat will pay dearly for this one. This store dropped the ball in crowd control badly. If you are going to advertise these deals you have to understand you will get this reaction.

[MarkLawrence]

Regardless the people tearing through the doors are animals and should be arrested for murder.

Reality unfortunately is that even if there are security cameras, will these people really be tracked down and prosecuted. I'd love to think so - to give justice to one family at least - but - unfortunately, I doubt anything will come more than a lawsuit against Walmart and that will get settled out of court for a fraction of what it should be. Gosh - I've become so cynical since I moved over here! :lol:

[T-Bird76]

Regardless the people tearing through the doors are animals and should be arrested for murder.

Reality unfortunately is that even if there are security cameras, will these people really be tracked down and prosecuted. I'd love to think so - to give justice to one family at least - but - unfortunately, I doubt anything will come more than a lawsuit against Walmart and that will get settled out of court for a fraction of what it should be. Gosh - I've become so cynical since I moved over here! :lol:

There's a good chance these pigs will get caught. Walmart has very extensive systems in their stores and if these pigs bought anything on a credit card they are as good as caught if they can be identified on camera coming in and at the check out. Hopefully some poetic justice will come into these losers life and they will get what's coming to them. You have no idea how fired up this story has got me. I'm either shopping all online this season or locally, I don't care if I pay a bit more I'm not giving a dime to a brick and mortar retailer.

[MarkLawrence]

I'm either shopping all online this season or locally

Did all ours online today - great offers of discounts and free shipping!!!!

[Gerard]

>Hello lawsuit, Walmat will pay dearly for this one. This store dropped the ball in crowd control badly. If you are going to advertise these deals you have to understand you will get this reaction.[/quote]<

Absolutely. Wal-Mart mgt or the Green Acres Mall Mgt should have seen this crazy situation going on and REFUSED to open the
doors until they resumed crowd control. All they had to do was have everyone back off and line-up in an orderly way and then
let them in in groups of maybe 10/15 at a time. If the crowd refused call in the local Pct. and let them handle it. This was just
terrible mishandled.
And talk about cynicism....Wal-Mart SHOULD take care of the victims family so they never want for anything. But I can hear
the companies lawyers saying that the victim was not authorized to open those doors and he was in the wrong. That is the
cynic in me thinking.

[NIKV69]

There's a good chance these pigs will get caught. Walmart has very extensive systems in their stores

I tend to think NCPD has a tough one here. If it was an all out stampede how do you single out who and how many stepped on him? Any idea how many people ran over him? If anyone should be be in jail over this it's Walmart. This should have never happened.


I'm either shopping all online this season

You don't do that now? Come on. No looking for parking, no crowds, wo waiting on line. Online is the only way. Even if you have to pay a little more.

[Big Tim #70]

I used to be a manager at the Best Buy in Westbury.

You ask why open @ 4am? Well the store does $1million + in revenue on that 1 day alone, so they try to extend it as much as possible. I would say that qualifies as demand.

When we used to open the doors @ 4, I used to have a crew of 10 guys line up the customers around the building and then let 30 people in at a time. When we noticed the store getting hectic, we shut down the door until some people exited. Crowds are funny, if you let them get out of control, they will. If you keep things tight, things will run so much smoother and in the end, you'll be more profitable for it. You may not remember, but Walmart is known for throwing open the doors and letting the customers run wild. In years past, there have been customers trampled and hospitalized due to this. You'd think they would have learned their lesson, but I guess not.

Black Friday is a really fun tradition for a lot of families out there and there is nothign wrong with it. When you don't have control over things like the door and the number of people in your building is when you run into trouble, like yesterday. Not to mention, the customers at Green Acres are animals.

[mirrodie]

Not to mention, the customers at Green Acres are animals.


Well, now that you have mentioned it, please elaborate on that comment, Big Tim.

Considering how Walmart fed the mob mentality by opening at 5 AM and feeding the artificial perception of 'great deals' in order to get the masses out, not sure how you can call people the 'animals' at Green Acres.


So, what kind of people do you mean? Short people, tall people? Ugly or cute people?

[Big Tim #70]

Well, now that you have mentioned it, please elaborate on that comment, Big Tim.

The Green Acres mall is a madhouse, always has been. I've been involved in 3 store grand openings there, (Circuit City, Target & Best Buy) over the last 10 years. I've also spent time working at those stores once they were up and running. The customers DESTROY the stores there. Some of the stores have also had to resort to Armed guards due to violence & high theft issues. Sorry if you're a frequent customer of Green Acres, I'm sure that this isn't referring to you but I speak from first hand experience.




Considering how Walmart fed the mob mentality by opening at 5 AM and feeding the artificial perception of 'great deals' in order to get the masses out, not sure how you can call people the 'animals' at Green Acres.


So, what kind of people do you mean? Short people, tall people? Ugly or cute people?

I mean MOST people that shop there, the kind of people who would crush a man to death to get a $29 DVD player. These "ANIMALS" aren't even human, they're scum.

I also agree with you that Walmart is largely to blame here. The deals aren't that great, IMO not even worth the effort to get them. They had no control over that situation and this caused the poor guys death. Walmart will & should pay dearly for this.

[Derf]

I do not like to judge people in a certain area or combine them into one group, but Tim is 100% right here. If you walk around that mall for an hour, you will NOT FEEL SAFE period.
(I will have no problems walking around most parts of Brooklyn with my camera in hand)
Walk around the mall for an hour. (it may not sound nice or proper, but it is true)

[Tom_Turner]

I don't think this is going to hurt Walmart too much really.

In fact you don't even need corporate america to create these kinds of things. Take the case of Academia teaming up with hip hop egoist "artist" Sean Puffy, Puff Daddy, P-diddy combs...l

You'd figure someone might be responsible, to some extent, for nine (9) deaths at a CUNY celebrity basketball game in 1991 especially when the only exit was barricaded by Puffy's security... but we had David Dinkins and Lee Brown sort it all out... one school official resigned, another was transferred....

http://legalrightsadvice.com/firminthenewsap.jsp

But this stuff is going to happen anyway when people make poor choices and become a mob ... It happens at the Haj every year doesn't it? Just religious furor... but in Greenacres, Walmart and the local "Customers" worship at the alter of Money and Garbage instead. Don't get in the way of that crowd.... :( :(

Tom

[LGA777]

Big Tim # 70 I personally appreciate your personal experience coments in this matter as I have never worked in retail. It sounds like Walmart should use this tragedy to rethink and revamp how they handle crowd control at events such as a Black Friday store opening. It sounds like the victim was the only Walmart employee sent out to deal with this mob scene which if that is correct makes absoultly no sense at all to this no retail experienced person. The way your Best Buy store handles it makes much more sense to me

I don't recall the exact location but there was another Walmart store opening incident Friday morning, I believe it was in New Jersey, a female shopper was hospitalized after being injured by other shoppers rushing the doors when the store opened.

I have not been in Green Acres since the mid-80's when I lived for a short time in both Elmont and Bellmore. Even back then it seemed like a ruff crowd when I shopped their and as Derf said I did not feel very comfortable shopping their and have never been back.

I hope justice is served and this poor guy did not die in vain, I hope Walmart makes Millionaires out of his family, they certaintly can afford to.

Regards

LGA777

[Lezam]

I do not like to judge people in a certain area or combine them into one group, but Tim is 100% right here. If you walk around that mall for an hour, you will NOT FEEL SAFE period.
(I will have no problems walking around most parts of Brooklyn with my camera in hand)
Walk around the mall for an hour. (it may not sound nice or proper, but it is true)

Its not that bad, I'm around there all the time. You just have to mind your manners and look out for anything unusual.

But yeah, I can imagine green acres being a madhouse. People will go crazy to save $20, its just so wild that these people will trample over someone to save it though.

[moose135]

I do not like to judge people in a certain area or combine them into one group, but Tim is 100% right here. If you walk around that mall for an hour, you will NOT FEEL SAFE period.
(I will have no problems walking around most parts of Brooklyn with my camera in hand)
Walk around the mall for an hour. (it may not sound nice or proper, but it is true)
I think you're exaggerating a bit here, Fred. I don't get down to Green Acres as much as I used to when I lived in Elmont, but I don't have any problem shopping there.

[mirrodie]

Lived near and shopped Green Acres often. It's not much different than walking outside Sunrise Mall at night. In other words, common sense says to mind your surroundings.

Tom, I'm not sure I agree with "But this stuff is going to happen anyway when people make poor choices and become a mob ..."

Is it the people? Not really. I have to say, it ultimately comes down to values and the breakdown of values in this nation. There's no need to sensationalize a sale or a basketball game. Yet our society has allowed this and the results are as you stated.

*yikes* did I say that? My conservative subconscious is taking over.

[NIKV69]

Ok I think we have had enough of the Green Acres bashing, beginning with Matt in the thread starter and culminating with Fred's fear walking throught the mall. Sunrise Mall has had incidents and so has South Shore mall as well has had stabbings and incidents. I am not sure it ties into this event. I also am not subscribing to Mario's social breakdown theory. If a retail establishment can't sensationalize a sale how are they going to get people into the store? What about when people wait on line to get hot concert tickets? These things happen. It is what sells merchandise. I don't think opening at 5AM or midnight would have made any difference. Though the people that initiated the breaking down the doors began a chain reaction that exploded into a thousand people just running over people a good part of the blame should also be put on Walmart and believe it or not whoever is in charge of security at Green Acres and maybe even NCPD. What do consultants get paid for? Walmart should have seen this coming. Economic downturn or not when you advertise 10MP cameras for 69 bucks and 50" plasmas for $800 you have to know you will get a reaction and crowd control is a no brainer. Unfortunately this is not the reaction we wanted.

[Matt Molnar]

Walmart should have seen this coming. Economic downturn or not when you advertise 10MP cameras for 69 bucks and 50" plasmas for $800 you have to know you will get a reaction and crowd control is a no brainer. Unfortunately this is not the reaction we wanted.
Walmart has nearly 4000 stores in the US which all had identical Black Friday sales, yet Green Acres is the only one where a) shoppers started a riot, b) tore down a door, c) murdered a man and then d) grew irate when told the store was closing because a man was dead. Yes, there are ugly incidents in several stores every year, but this is a new low.

Green Acres is the site of a good number of shootings, stabbings, gang fights and robberies every year. It holds the grand distinction of being the home of the first movie theater in the world to screen its customers for weapons. I'd say its earned every bit of its bad wrap.

As for Walmart's responsibility in this, yes, they should have had better security, but ultimately this is on the rioters, not the store. Barring some sort of catastrophic event, i.e. a hurricane and Walmart is the only store with any food, this sort of thing could not have reasonably been expected in civilized society.

[NIKV69]

Walmart has nearly 4000 stores in the US which all had identical Black Friday sales, yet Green Acres is the only one where a) shoppers started a riot, b) tore down a door, c) murdered a man and then d) grew irate when told the store was closing because a man was dead. Yes, there are ugly incidents in several stores every year, but this is a new low.



Matt you obviously have something against the Green Acres Mall, but instead of using that as a way to put the Walmart there as the worst why not use some hard data.

http://walmartcrimereport.com/report.pdf

If you scroll down to the state by state breakdown of police incidents at Walmart stores you will find NY doesn't even crack the top 5. Sure the incident was ugly but to say Green Acres has reached a new low compared to the country isn't fair.


As for Walmart's responsibility in this, yes, they should have had better security, but ultimately this is on the rioters, not the store. Barring some sort of catastrophic event, i.e. a hurricane and Walmart is the only store with any food, this sort of thing could not have reasonably been expected in civilized society.



Matt this has nothing about being civilzed, when it comes to shopping this could happen anywhere. Whenever people line up at a Walmart of Toy R Us for the hot item or hot sale this thing can happen. I am not saying the customers who rushed in are not to blame but Walmart does shoulder a bunch of the blame too for not preparing for this and not contacting NCPD as soon as things began to escalate. Whenever you put that many people in an area such as this the chances for an incident go up significantly. Not just at Green acres but everywhere.

Oh btw interesting read

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/29/black. ... index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/29/black.friday.death/index.html)

[T-Bird76]

[quote:2c7m95r5]As for Walmart's responsibility in this, yes, they should have had better security, but ultimately this is on the rioters, not the store. Barring some sort of catastrophic event, i.e. a hurricane and Walmart is the only store with any food, this sort of thing could not have reasonably been expected in civilized society.



Matt this has nothing about being civilzed, when it comes to shopping this could happen anywhere. Whenever people line up at a Walmart of Toy R Us for the hot item or hot sale this thing can happen. I am not saying the customers who rushed in are not to blame but Walmart does shoulder a bunch of the blame too for not preparing for this and not contacting NCPD as soon as things began to escalate. Whenever you put that many people in an area such as this the chances for an incident go up significantly. Not just at Green acres but everywhere.[/quote:2c7m95r5]

Nick, Green Acres is a dump and has been for a long long time, remember about a decade ago the huge shooting that took place there? While I'm not saying Green Acres Reputation contributed to the death of this worker but the mall isn't a place you'd find to many of us patronizing.

As for Walmart's responsibility in this event there's a good chance they may have violated a number of NYS and local laws concerning, crowd gatherings and occupancy limits. Any large gathering in either Nassau or Suffolk requires proper security, and bathroom facilities in most cases. They also may have violated local fire code by the amount of people that were let into the building at one time. While their stores are huge there's an occupancy limit of how many people can be inside at any given time. It seems Walmart dropped the ball on this big time which is where the negligence falls. The bottom line is this guys family is going to be compensated very well for his death, while it doesn't reduce the sorrow of his lose, hopefully it will provide some solace to those who knew him.

[NIKV69]

Green Acres is a dump and has been for a long long time

Tommy many malls can be considered dumps. You forget right before Westfield took over South Shore mall it was worse than Green acres and I avoided it for a while.


remember about a decade ago the huge shooting that took place there

I remember the shooting at the movies, think it was Godfather 3? Probably a few shootings but there are shootings at a lot of malls. Wasn't there just a shooting at a mall in Atlanta?


While I'm not saying Green Acres Reputation contributed to the death of this worker but the mall isn't a place you'd find to many of us patronizing.


That is fine and probably for another thread. http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-12/905683/ot.gif


As for Walmart's responsibility in this event there's a good chance they may have violated a number of NYS and local laws concerning, crowd gatherings and occupancy limits. Any large gathering in either Nassau or Suffolk requires proper security, and bathroom facilities in most cases. They also may have violated local fire code by the amount of people that were let into the building at one time. While their stores are huge there's an occupancy limit of how many people can be inside at any given time. It seems Walmart dropped the ball on this big time which is where the negligence falls. The bottom line is this guys family is going to be compensated very well for his death, while it doesn't reduce the sorrow of his lose, hopefully it will provide some solace to those who knew him.



Not so much laws but good common sense. There are many other ways to control shoppers that line up for a big sale or hot item. I believe other stores have adopted a lottery in which you get a ticket and enter the store in order of tickets. Much more organized. I think it is plain to see Walmart was totally ill prepared and for a store that invests so much time in anaylzing the behavior of its patrons this was a break down. They will pay dearly for this and rightdfully so but it doesn't do anything for the family's grief.

[PhilDernerJr]

"...Black Friday shoppers..."

Green Acres Mall debate aside, there's no reason to get race involved in this.

[Matt Molnar]

"...Black Friday shoppers..."

Green Acres Mall debate aside, there's no reason to get race involved in this.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u53/matt_thaone/FridayMovie.gif

[Gerard]

>.I remember the shooting at the movies, think it was Godfather 3?<

I think they were shooting at the screen and if this was the movie I cant blame them. :lol: :lol:

[NIKV69]

LOL Chris Tucker is so bad. I remember one of Howard Sterns reporters called him Chris Rock lite to his face. It was too funny.


I think they were shooting at the screen and if this was the movie I cant blame them.

Myself and a few friends went to the Christmas evening opening at Islip theatre and we walked out a third of the way though. That movie should have never been made.

[mirrodie]

Friday and Nect Friday. Funny flix. Loved that old Korean grandma.

[Midnight Mike]

34-year-old hired for holidays killed when customers stormed into store

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - The family of a worker trampled to death in a "Black Friday" crush of bargain hunters at a Long Island Wal-Mart store filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming store ads offering deep discounts "created an atmosphere of competition and anxiety" that led to "crowd craze."

The lawsuit claims that besides failing to provide adequate security for a pre-dawn crowd estimated at 2,000, Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent."

Wal-Mart, the adjacent Green Acres Mall, a realty company that manages the property and a security company hired to patrol the property were all named as defendants. None immediately responded to phone and e-mail inquiries seeking comment.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28034543/