Black Friday Walmart Death Continues to Make Headlines

One of the most notorious elements of Black Friday is how crowds get so overzealous to get their gifts and items first. A common stereotype is of the Black Friday crowds trampling all over each other to get what they want in a hurry. Sometimes that crosses the line into violence, and even death. Black Friday 2008 was such an example, as the death of a Walmart worked from a trampling crowd continues to make headline.

On Black Friday in Long Island, crowds were gathered around a local Walmart and were barely kept from flooding the store. At 5 a.m., the crowd of almost 2,000 shoppers finally broke through and rushed into the store. The rush caught up a Walmart worker who was knocked down and stepped on by the hysterical crowd.

The Walmart worker, Jdimytai Damou, a 34-year-old from Queens, was trampled to death. Walmart security cameras also showed many more people being stepped on by the crowd, suffering injury but not death.

In another black mark on Black Friday, that same crowd also trampled a pregnant women in their onrush. The woman was right nearby the dying Walmart worker. There were reports of a miscarriage, but the eight-month pregnant woman and her child were later reported to be fine.

3,000 miles away, the Black Friday madness resulted in a shootout at a Toys 'R' Us in California. Two men shot each other in the store, in circumstances that are unclear as of yet. Both men died from their shots.

Even in a downward economy that is expected to have poorer holiday sales than usual, Black Friday still inspires hysteria that turns violent. Perhaps the scarcity of funds for shoppers has made them even more hysterical about getting their products on time.

This makes Cyber Monday even more of a viable alternative than Black Friday, since online shoppers can avoid malls and getting stepped on by crowds that can kill you. Cyber Monday is expected to take in a good deal of profits, without being marred by violence or hostile crowds.

The only madness online is if the website is too flooded with traffic for someone to log on, or if the website is running too slow.

Sources