Results tagged “blackfridaydeath”

Nassau County prosecutors announced today that Wal-Mart will avoid criminal charges for any wrongdoing in contributing to the Black Friday stampede inside a Long Island store that left one employee dead and several others injured. Instead the retail giant will pay out nearly $2 million to community programs and create a fund to compensate victims injured amidst the chaos, as well as instill new crowd-control measures throughout local stores.

On the final weekend shopping day before the holidays, the group Workplace Profit is holding a vigil and rally in front of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart where employee Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death on Black Friday. The vigil is being held at noon at the mall entrance at Sunrise Highway and Green Acres Road. The immigration activist group is pushing companies to have better training that what they see as the inadequate preparation given to Damour, who was not trained in either security or crowd control. Wal-Mart had no comment on the event since there is an investigation underway and there a lawsuit has been filed against the retail giant.

A lawyer representing two victims injured in the Black Friday Wal-Mart stampede that left an employee dead has called for control of the investigation be moved to the state attorney general's office. Attorney Bruce Baron sent a letter to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo saying that there is a conflict of interest in the Nassau police department investigating the incident since there is also a civil suit against the county for negligence in dealing with the trampling. Nassau police will continue on the case while Cuomo's office reviews the letter. Lieutenant Kevin Smith told Newsday, "We clearly believe we're a professional police department and we're investigating a matter of criminality here."

Nassau County police offered more insights on what caused a restless Black Friday crowd of shoppers to trample Wal-Mart worker Jdimyati Damour to death. Newsday had an explanation from Nassau Police Lt. Kevin Smith: Apparently people waiting and standing outside the store came into conflict with people waiting in their cars who wanted to cut the line once the store opened, "A whole lot of people started getting out of their cars and made a beeline for that door... It's definitely a contributing factor - the mentality of 'They're not going to cut in front of me.'" As for the lawsuit that Damour's family filed against the store, Wal-Mart said, "We consider Mr. Damour"--he was a holiday hire-- "part of the Wal-Mart family, and are saddened by his death. We have been in communication with members of his family to do what we can to help them through this difficult time. Our associates know that when incidents like this occur, we take care of our own."

The family of Jdimytai Damour, the Wal-mart worker killed in the Black Friday stampede, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the retailer. Damour, a temporary employee hired at the Valley Stream store for the holidays, was trampled to death by shoppers who had been waiting for hours for Wal-Mart to open its doors at 5 a.m. Newsday reports that the lawsuit faults the store for not providing enough security and says Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent." (You can see one Wal-Mart Black Friday ad here.) Other parties named in the suit are the realty company that manages the property and the security firm for the store; Damour's family "also filed notice saying it plans to sue Nassau County and the Nassau County Police Department."

An autopsy into the Black Friday death of an employee at Long Island Wal-Mart revealed that he was trampled to death. Newsday reports that Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said the finding showed Jdimyati Damour of Queens died of "positional asphyxiation."

Yesterday, the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream was open for business, a day after a worker was trampled to death by shoppers eagerly waiting for the big Black Friday sale. Newsday reports, "But for the spiderweb crack on the glass front door and the car tires rolling over fallen police crime scene tape as drivers searched for parking spots, there was little outward sign of the early-morning chaos" seen on Friday.

      

The Wal-Mart worker killed during yesterday's morning Black Friday sale stampede at the Valley Stream store was identified as 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens. Newsday reports that the Wal-Mart entrance doors were broken down by a restless crowd of 2,000 shoppers--many of whom had been waiting for hours--as workers were getting the store ready for the 5 a.m. opening. Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holidays, was pushed to the ground and trampled. Detective Lieutenant Michael Fleming, who is investigating the death, said, "This crowd was out of control," and "They overran him and kept running into the store. They pushed right over his body."

This morning, shoppers apparently broke down the doors of a Valley Stream Wal-Mart, and, in the process, trampled a Wal-Mart greeter to death around 5 a.m. The Nassau County police tell Newsday the store was a "mob scene" and that the worker was a temporary, part-time employee. One witness, Kimberly Cribbs of Far Rockaway, said that other Wal-Mart employees (some of whom were crying) asked shoppers to leave:

Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers' requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit, Cribbs said.

Continue reading "L.I. Wal-Mart Employee Killed in Black Friday Stampede"