Black Friday
[Guest post by DRJ]
A Long Island Walmart maintenance man was killed this morning as shoppers trampled him entering the store for Black Friday specials:
“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.”
The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said.
Unbelievable.
— DRJ
So sad…
I wonder: do the people there know what they did? Sometimes I also wonder if this is what it was like in the time of Judges in the Old Testament.
Our idol has reared its ugly head once again.
Rich Bordner (8f4c6c) — 11/28/2008 @ 1:05 pm“They took the doors off the hinges”
Wow. That’s not your ordinary Black Friday mob. Well, at lesat there wasn’t any rioting and looting.
Roy Mustang (ad5f36) — 11/28/2008 @ 1:34 pmMob rules result in horrible unintended consequences. I went to a Black Friday sale last year, I’ll never go again. I got there at around 3:00 a.m. for a 5:00 a.m. opening and there were already a couple of hundred people ahead of me. Well, by 5 a couple of hundred more showed up and everyone was waiting in line that wound around the parking lot until the doors were opened. Then everyone started rushing the doors from every angle. We could have easily trampled someone if they were caught in that mess. I’ll never do that again. It just isn’t worth it. Places that do these events never have enough security to handle the mob. Some lawyer is probably already drafting the wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart as I type right now. And the victim’s family will probably win a pretty large award. Maybe then these stores will start to take security at these events more seriously. Tragic.
J. Raymond Wright (0440ef) — 11/28/2008 @ 1:43 pmNo offense to you personally, but what kind of folks get up in the middle of the night just to wait in line for the priviledge of buying something? Madness.
Dmac (e30284) — 11/28/2008 @ 1:57 pmThe kind of folks who want to buy something at below cost. Which is the majority of persons in this country, Dmac.
Roy Mustang (ad5f36) — 11/28/2008 @ 2:09 pmDRJ
Then there’s people who bring guns into a Toys R Us and shoot each other dead.
Darleen (187edc) — 11/28/2008 @ 2:34 pmWhich is the majority of persons in this country, Dmac.
By your reasoning, then, there should be approximately 50,000 people in front of each Wal -Mart at 5:00 AM on Black Friday – correct?
Dmac (e30284) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:00 pmGood grief, Darleen.
DRJ (a50047) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:42 pm“Black” Friday? I denounce you greedy Rethuglican racists! Looting should be legalized to spread the wealth. It worked so well after Katrina.
Talk about senseless cretins- a Dunkin Donut shop in Delray Beachm Fl. which I’ve visited from time to time, four gunmen “dressed” in black wreaked havoc for a few hundred dollars. Elderly people gather there and were included in having their pockets rifled. Three customers were shot.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:44 pmNo description despite being on video. Since they were dressed in black, I assume they were either Catholic priests or Mennonite men.
Clueless Joe Biden was right though- the franchisee is a dot head named Hitish Patel. WHERE is it safe? I suppose Obama’s planned civilian Brownshirt gestapo will ameliorate crime. Time for national ID cards?
A National ID card will make it easier for Obama’s Brownshirt gestapo to find you, dear.
David Ehrenstein (21a70c) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:48 pmFigures it happened on Long Island. Not surprising given the empty lives many lead there.
To you LA folks, it is like the Orange County Crowd but a little more ayyyyyyyy, oooooooooo.
Empty shop-a-holic ghouls with Fendi and Louis Vuitton pursues.
Da'Shiznit (089453) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:48 pmSadly, it was inevitable someone would blame Bush, and they did in the comments section of the linked article,
“If folks got no money because of the lousy economy under BUSH then that’s why they have to run and grab and hurry to get their stuff!! If we had a descent eonomy this would NOT HAVE HAPPENED!! It all goes back to BUSH!!”
Dana (79a78b) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:54 pmBTW
Thanksgiving took the crew to parents’ home in Brea and we chewed over the fires. They had been ready to evacuate but the fire stayed on the east side of the 57 so they never got the call.
However, in story swapping one of my sister’s best friends lives next to the Black & Gold Golf Course in Yorba Linda and they did have to evacuate. They realized they didn’t get everything they needed and snuck back
to find groups of people looting the homes in their neighborhood.
Almost all the police had been pulled to the Sylmar fire and left neighborhoods unwatched regardless of the assurance they gave the residents. But you never saw it covered in the papers. There was a heck of a lot of looting that in this new era of Hope-n-Changitude cannot be told.
Darleen (187edc) — 11/28/2008 @ 3:59 pmObama lied. People died.
Vermont Neighbor (5ea336) — 11/28/2008 @ 4:02 pmDana
this comment from a kosskiddie thread
Never mind that something like 26 out of the last 27 quarters have had a positive growth in the GDP… The Depression is HERE!!!1!1! Eleventy!1!!1
Darleen (187edc) — 11/28/2008 @ 4:08 pmWait till these Obama voters find out the truf.
Vermont Neighbor (5ea336) — 11/28/2008 @ 4:13 pmnah, black “leaders” generally get a pass and their white minions take the heat or in the case of Katrina, the evil genius/stupid Bush is to blame. Nagin did get reelected, right? And mayor wilson goode in philly wore teflon in the Moveon incident were city bombed the back to nature jack and jill africa freaks movement. Ditto for the pass given the Street Brother mayor on recent corruption investigation. And of course the media had zero interest in the effects of Obama’s work for low income housing in Chitown or wasting big bucks with annenberg challenge and showing nada?
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 11/28/2008 @ 4:16 pmThere was a heck of a lot of looting that in this new era of Hope-n-Changitude cannot be told.
If it were told, it’d be blamed on Bush.
Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (b63e53) — 11/28/2008 @ 4:16 pmComment by Darleen — 11/28/2008 @ 3:59 pm
Perhaps Yorba Linda will now reconsider their past decision to purchase police protection from Brea, now that the City is much larger than it was when the decision was made, and the homes (and their furnishings) are a lot more valuable (and a bigger target for thieves)?
Plus, it might be a good time for home-owners in the hillsides to start thinking about a “neighborhood watch” organization with more than a flashlight and cell-phone.
Wonder if there will be any lawsuits against the City for demanding an evacuation, but not providing any protection for personal property?
Another Drew (5a0f73) — 11/28/2008 @ 5:16 pmDemocratic rule in urban locales… New Orleans Detroit Philly Chicago. To think, 48 million had some awareness that Obama is all that. Soros money couldn’t even buy a landslide. On a similar note, I just reread McCain’s letter to Obama citing The One’s slippery work style. (snip-McCain): ” I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me…were sincere. Please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again.”
Even McCain couldn’t blast Barry’s character from the campaign trail… the media just reveled in the PC of it all. But the fakery of the big Obama zeppelin can’t stay up forever. Through January, sure. But after that, it’s show time.
Vermont Neighbor (5ea336) — 11/28/2008 @ 5:30 pmKind of makes me glad that I had to work today.
The realistic Dana (556f76) — 11/28/2008 @ 7:06 pmIt was only a matter of time before someone got killed in one of these promotions. I’ve been watching these scenes for years now, staged as they are to get onto the evening news, and chuckled at the lengths to which people will go to get a deal. It’s not funny anymore. I’m not a habitual Walmart-basher, but they certainly deserve all the punishment they get for fostering this dangerous environment. I’m also not in the habit of saying “there ought to be a law” every time something unfortunate happens, but there is a case to be made here for sensible regulation. Thousands of people simply cannot be encouraged to rush at once through a tiny set of doors, perhaps motivated by having to be among the very first to make a purchase.
sierra (4be1ff) — 11/28/2008 @ 8:00 pmI knew a guy who went to the Dec 1979 Who concert in which 11 people were trampled to death. He said that once the crowd was going in one direction the only thought he had was to not fall down – he said it happened so quickly it was really hard to know if he stepped on anyone or not. The concert went on as planned and most of the concert attendees didn’t seem to know anyone had been killed.
voiceofreason2 (5cbdfc) — 11/28/2008 @ 9:47 pmI heard it on the news that evening and spent an anxious night waiting to hear from him and a couple of others who had gone.
Normally those type of promotions have something like a “laptop computer” at $109.00 (thinking Best Buy) and when you read the “fine print” at the bottom of the page it says something like “limited to 10 per store”.
The pictures of that crowd no doubt exceeded the limit of whatever “teaser” was advertised. Hard to believe that management could not have anticipated the crush. Looking at those pictures, I don’t think 4-5 security guards could have managed that crowd. It was going to get ugly either in the rush or the parking lot if they tried to control entry.
rls (14b9d3) — 11/28/2008 @ 9:47 pmWhy would it be the responsibility of the store? Did WalMart strip the shoppers of their free will?
JD (5f0e11) — 11/28/2008 @ 9:59 pmBecause if it isn’t Bush’s fault, it’s Wal-Mart’s fault.
Didn’t you get the memo?
Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 11/28/2008 @ 10:29 pmThere are close to 1000 Wal-Marts in the U.S. 900-something of them were able to manage their crowds, so I don’t see how it is the company’s fault unless you want to believe that hundreds of stores were just lucky.
marybeth (b74efb) — 11/28/2008 @ 10:42 pmI think you got the gist of my post wrong. I was in no way blaming Wal-Mart for the incident. What I was saying from the pictures and the crowd (mob, I guess) there was an extremely high probability that someone could be injured..either before or after the doors opened.
rls (14b9d3) — 11/29/2008 @ 12:40 amThey was getting their shoppin thug thizzle on, fo shizzle!
Mossberg500 (9fd170) — 11/29/2008 @ 4:27 am[…] HT: Patterico […]
Bush is the Reason for the Season….Suuuurrre « The Pugnacious Irishman (4797e5) — 11/29/2008 @ 5:40 amThis was in civilized Long Island, after all!
Another Drew (d5aa9e) — 11/29/2008 @ 9:29 amDaShiznit,
Look at the pictures of the scene at Wal-Mart before you start tossing around stereotypes.
Wal-Mart
Patricia (ee5c9d) — 11/29/2008 @ 12:32 pm