Wal-Mart shoppers who trampled NY worker
 

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NEW YORK – Police are reviewing surveillance videos of a post-Thanksgiving shopper stampede that trampled a suburban Wal-Mart worker to death, but they acknowledge it may be difficult to bring criminal charges.

Nassau County police and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said no new information was available Saturday on the employee's brutal death, which rattled shoppers even as they flocked to the Valley Stream store a day later.

"It felt a little freakish," customer Ellie Berhun, 48, told the Daily News. "Some man lost his life because a VCR was on sale? Please. It's just too sad for words."

Police said the temporary worker, Jdimytai Damour, was mowed down as about 2,000 bargain-hunters surged into the store at Friday's 5 a.m. opening, leaving a metal portion of the door frame crumpled like an accordion.

Other workers were knocked to the ground as they tried to rescue Damour, and customers simply stepped over him and kept shopping even as the store announced it was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or treatment for minor injuries. The store, about 20 miles east of Manhattan, closed for several hours but reopened Friday afternoon.

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because it has traditionally marked the point when a throng of shoppers pushes stores into profitability for the year.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it added staffers and outside security workers and put up barricades to try to prepare for the crush. But police spokesman Detective Lt. Michael Fleming said Friday that security was inadequate for a scene he called "utter chaos."

Criminal charges are possible, but identifying anyone in the store's videos may prove difficult, Fleming said.

Damour, 34, came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store, Wal-Mart said.

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.

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.

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AP retail writers Anne D'Innocenzio and Mae Anderson contributed to this report.

I saw that on the news yesterday :zomg: Also there was one where a guy got shot in Toys'r'us because he was fighting over a toy :urweird:

._. American society today can be pretty sad.

Thanks to the media, Christmas is dominantly materialistic.

I read another article on it. The article said the crowd broke into the store, even though employees were trying to hold the doors shut. And in the article, some lady said when the police were trying to clear the store because many people had gotten hurt, one dead, people fought back and threw fits. I mean seriously. How insensitive is that?

About 2 weeks ago I saw a News story about how the store owners were starting to get concerned because despite having and advertising Holiday sales, people weren't taking advantage of the sales.

>_< It wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.

And my mom and step-dad wouldn't listen to me when I said Black Friday was a dangerous day. D: They didn't know that people have been and were killed in stampedes >.>

Well, once its about noonish, its not as bad, the desperate shoppers are usually done by then :P

i whent to wal-mart and got 35 worth of dvd

we did blakc friday once a couple years ago. the k9 units kept people in order though :3

Dying because some idiot(s) wanted to get a sale item which wouldn't last a year at home is just... ridiculous beyond words. On top of that what are you going to do... arrest 2,000+ people that stormed the entrance and trampled over the body?

That's disgusting

I agree. It is disgusting. I read another article where people were trying to justify their actions by saying they had been waiting in line for xx number of hours. :<