It happens every year; thousands upon millions of self-indulged, me, me, me types line up outside of stores at God awful hours the day after Thanksgiving hoping to be one of the lucky few to be able to pick up a limited number of $50 laptops or $200 52″ LCD flat panel televisions. When the doors open they rush, crush, elbow, claw and grapple for the products. Fights always ensue and injuries occur as people rush to save a few bucks after being enticed by a few slashed prices on coveted products to get them in the doors and shop.
Every now and again we are also hit with stories about how these mindless mobs kill someone and this year was no different. On Black Friday a Walmart employee was trampled to death by heartless, well I will be blunt and call them what they are, assholes who rushed like cattle for the bargains. I commented to my wife upon hearing this story while driving to my parents for a day after Thanksgiving feast that they should just look at the video, see who knocked the man down and start picking faces out of the crowd who continued to move over where he fell and start the prosecution.
It seems like cops may be doing just that:
NEW YORK (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.
Some people I have talked to have blamed this incident on Walmart for not having enough security to control the crowd. It is the same sort of typical, blame the deep pockets and not those responsible, attitude that I have grown to detest from my fellow Americans so much. They are really thinking about who can be sued to get the most money for this man’s family and NOT punishing those that are really responsible. Now every time a store has a sale, basically of any type, and people line up to take advantage of it, it is the store’s responsibility if those people do not behave themselves?
Anyone who wants to blame Walmart for this incident had better take a long hard look in the mirror because what they are exhibiting is the same traits as those that crushed this man as their greedy lust for material possessions at bargain prices. They are exhibiting the “it is someone else’s fault” mentality that has corrupted this nation.
I say start going through the security footage and credit card receipts to find out who was there and who killed this man and prossecute them to the fullest extent of the law. That is what a society based on law and order does. A society that is based on anarchy goes after people that are not responsible for the sake of taking their money.
And I am want to remind everyone that slavery in America is still legal as punishment for a crime (read the Constitution if you doubt me). Perhaps those responsible should be sentenced to work for the rest of their lives to pay off their debt to this man’s family and maybe, when such things become common place will we return to civility.
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