NY Times: Walmart employee trampled to death

. . . Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said.
… “When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”
… A Wal-Mart spokesman, Dan Folgleman, called it a “tragic situation,” and said the victim had been hired from a temporary staffing agency and assigned to maintenance work. Wal-Mart, in a statement issued at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said: “The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this tragic time.”
Wal-Mart has successfully resisted unionization of its employees. New York State’s largest grocery union, Local 1500 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, called the death of Mr. Damour “avoidable” and demanded investigations.
“Where were the safety barriers?” said Bruce Both, the union president. “Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner? This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart.”

What is wrong with these people?! It is one thing to go out and try to get bargains (many of my friends and family enjoy doing this as an annual tradition and have fun doing it — and I must confess that I have become quite the fan of the Big Lots store in Lawton), but it is something else when morally bankrupt selfish people like this would actually behave in this manner, by actually killing to get a bargain.
I personally think criminal charges should be brought against a lot of people involved in this tragedy. Here’s my list of suggested indictees for the DA’s office in that community…
1. The Wal-Mart corporation and the Wal-Mart store manager. — If things were at the point that they couldn’t keep the crowds back, the they should have announced that they weren’t opening at all on that day and that they were calling the police to clear the crowd. Wal-Mart’s failure to prevent this forseeable tragedy was criminal.
2. When a windows shatters like this, people in the crowd had to know that there was extreme danger. I think anyone who crossed the line and entered the store through the broken window should be charged. I’m not a NY lawyer so maybe I missing something, but I see potential charges of — criminal trespassing, manslaughter, negligent homicide, assault and battery, et al.
3.If security cameras actually capture images of people stepping on this poor man, they should be charged with murder.
What is also incredibly disgusting to me is that this Wal-Mart RE-OPENED a few hours later. WTF!!! Talk about disrespect!
Frankly i am so disgusted and so angered, I can’t see straight. And to add insult to injury, the man killed was a temp worker. He likely was being paid very low wages and had no benefits. And now he is dead.
Dead
Dead
Dead
Stories like this make me wonder if there is any hope for America at all. (and I’m sorry but this happened in the era of Obama, so obviously his election isn’t going to solve most of these problems)
In fact I would go as far as to say that if our political leaders had any guts at all, they would proclaim a national day of mourning and ask that all of the retail stores shut down for a day. Why not? I think we all need a breather to ask where our country is going?