Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death in Shopping Stampede

This gives a new definition to "shopping until you drop." A Long Island Wal-Mart employee is killed after an "out-of-control" mob of thousands of deranged shoppers smashed through a door and trampled him. The Daily News has excellent play-by-play and cellphone camera photos of the riot.

The Black Friday stampede plunged the Valley Stream outlet into chaos, knocking several employees to the ground and sending others scurrying atop vending machines to avoid the horde.

When the madness ended, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was dead and four shoppers, including a woman eight months pregnant, were injured.

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Wal-Mart worker Jimmy Overby, 43. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me.

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" says one witness. "They kept shopping."

Peace on earth and goodwill toward men ... unless they're standing between you and a flat screen on sale.

Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart [NYDN]

Comments

[gurlene]

I shook my head in disbelief at first until I started channel surfing the news and heard more stories from people who were there. The real damn shame here is how these people acted afterward on learning a man had been killed.

The first thing out of their minds was how long they had waited in line. Sterotypical New Yorkers. Some were even threatened with arrest if they did not leave the store. "What does that have to do with us shopping in the store. He is not taking up that much space". Only in New York.

[D]

I never did like Black Friday...i went like LATE LATE at 8pm and got everything i needed.

[Mel Smith]

And these people can vote on whether gays should be allowed to get married?

[Damar]

I read today that the pregnant woman lost her baby too. This just disgusts me. I haven't left the house -- I'm making Christmas ornaments to give as gifts to my family and friends. No Black Friday for me....

[Darren S]

This is really a horrible tragedy. It's a shame that many people are so callous they will have such little regard for human life. Bless this man's soul and family.

[Darren]

To gurlene: You seem to have a significant problems w/ us New Yorkers.The nonsensical statement "Only In New York." is shortsighted. So a man has never been killed in a stampede outside NY? Only people from New York don't give a -- about a man passing? People are always quick to call us rude or repugnant but,when I lived in ATL I NEVER saw more of the 2 in my life.

Anyway,I'm wondering what was in there so important that you need to take a door off the hinges and kill someone?Un real and unfortunately judging from the photo posted,it was most minorities....

First, do not use profanity in comments, and this is not your first time. And I'm not sure how this became about race. There have been numerous shopping stampede deaths across the country. And stampedes at soccer games in Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy have regularly killed spectators. And Europe is very white, fyi. RM

[Sonut Honti]

This is absolutely disgraceful! An awful tragedy for the man and his family.

Question. Why didn't Wal-Mart beef up security have an employee safety plan in place when they saw the hordes of people surging and itching to get inside?

[Sasha Not So Fierce]

Yeah, how did race come into this? The same thing happened at lilly white Mall of America a few years ago.

[Sasha Not So Fierce]

And I am no fan of Walmart but this was clearly the fault of the shoppers. I think stores get extra security but its almost unforseeable shoppers would take hinges off door and trample employees and shoppers. Just my two cents ...

[kevjack]

I don't think security could handle this issue when people literally take the door off of the hinges. This was mob mentality in action. People going crazy at the wee hours of the morning for stuff we really don't need. Seriously, what on Earth is Wal-Mart selling that you need to be there at 5AM?

...now, on the other hand, Best Buy had 8GB pen drives for $19.99...

move, b*tch!! LOL

[Cog Dis]

I still cannot believe that this happened. A man lost his life because a few people could not just walk like they had some God-given sense and had to get some merchandise that would have been on sale still after 15 minutes...I hope they actually can identify the culprits...I think they should suffer in just the same way that they made this man suffer.

[CAJIVA]

Bitches be acting a fool for $10.00 TVs.

[Get Over It]

This is a sad story and I think Wal Mart should be held just as responsible as the animals that stampeded the store. Wal Mart knows every year this kind of thing happens and they should have added extra security and been better organized. All for greed.

[FQ]

Sad. There is NOTHING in Walmart that is worth trampling an employee and tearing apart a door for. People have gone absolutely nuts. This is SHOPPING, people! Keep your cool. If you can't get it now, it'll be on sale after Christmas.

[John new orleans personal trainers]

Very sad for the family to die in such a senseless manner. As Walmart has some very deep pockets, I am guessing there are some lawyers out there salivating.

[gurlene]

Keep in mind we are talking about the same Wal-Mart that took a crippled for life employee to court to collect a $400k settlement she recieved as a settlement for an accident.

The company insurance policy clearly stated any amount recieved in a settlement was to be paid to the company to cover expenses payed out to the insured.

I wish the family good luck in suing Wal-Mart. I do hope the family wins though.

I thank NYC for keeping Wal-Mart the hell out of here. Only in New York baby.

[Louis]

Christmas???? This time of year stopping being about Christ a long time ago. It is now when businesses make 40% of their annual profits from people who have been brainwashed into believing that this is a time for "giving" which translates into "spending" or going into debt. It amazes me how so many people who honestly should be saving and planning for difficult times are going waste billions of dollars on items that very few actually "need". Christ's "mass" has degenerated into "Commercial Mass". For once, just once, I would like to see people, actually give to the poor, the needed, and those who are truly having a difficult time right now, instead of lining the coffers of the corporations that have out sourced most manufactoring jobs to other countries who are now using those same profits to loan right back to our own government as it "bails" out some of those same corporations.

[soulbrotha]

This is a media event set up every year between Wal-Mart and the media. All one has to do is go back to every news clip covering "Black Friday" for the past 10 years and you will see report after report of this same garbage. (go to Youtube and type in "Black Friday stampede"!)Wal-Mart gets promotion and the media gets a story. Bottom line, Wal-Mart SETS THIS UP ON PURPOSE. Therefore, they should be held liable.

[QH]

Oh my God. This is so terrible. I've never done the day right after Turkey Day to shop, and after this I never will.-QH

[Rowan]

And these people can vote on whether gays should be allowed to get married?

Posted by: Mel Smith

EXACTLY.