Walmart Worker Trampled to Death in Valley Stream

[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

[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.

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.

[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.