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

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)