A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.
The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.
“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too…I literally had to fight people off my back.”
How has our consumerist society gotten to the point where people go to stores at 5 AM to save a little bit of money on Chinese-imported goods and literally run on top of people, breaking down store doors and jumping over barricades to do so? Not only was this worker killed, but fellow officers and employees to tried to give him CPR were stepped on, and even when police tried to evacuate the store afterwards, the people refused to leave and kept shopping!
How cruel is our society to allow such an act to take place? We need to take a hard look at ourselves. Taking a worker’s life is no excuse for trying to save $20 on a TV. If this is what we can expect from ourselves, then this whole ritual of Black Friday sales needs to end. Now.
Or at the very least, try opening your doors at a decent time in the morning. And that’s coming from someone who wakes up at 5 AM practically everyday.
Tags: Black Friday, Long Island, New York, News, trampled, Walmart
December 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am
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