I am not sure, but it seems that I got this information from the NY Times, or an AP video..but if you look for it you will find it, just Google, Walmart Black Friday employee death….As I remember it, a sister of the employee who was a temp holiday worker from the Bronx…? filled a wrongful death suite against Walmart, and the city police department…It appeared to me, that this man did not have a wife and child, but he was not trained in crowd control was put there because he was a big man, and was hired as a temp through a temp agency to work at Walmart…They said that his sister was the administer of his estate….Ya, I will admit that in the past, over 20 years ago, I was in a crowd at a concert, and the people in the back started to move in making the people in front of them move forward against their will…You had no choice, you were in a huge huge crowd, and when the back moved you lost your individual control of your will and movement…Some young people in the front were getting crushed, and some people were being walked over…I remember yelling, at them to stop, don’t walk on the person..Others were pulling people on stage, the ones who were being smashed, and there were band members on the PA system calling for a stop to the forward movement…People did listen, eventually, but in this kind of situation, a lot can happen in minutes, lives can be lost…I completely forgot about this, because even though a few went to the hospital, no one died and it had a good ending…People stopped, got a grip on the situation…I always from that time forward, avoided the standing crowds, by the stage, and preferred to buy tickets to seats with good views! But this was a crowd of eager naive, inexperienced, young people, trying to get a better view of the band; not about beating the next person to get the coveted advertised TV set on sale at Walmart, the limited amount, to the few and the fast, to save a few bucks on Christmas gifts for your family…This was materialism at it’s worse…And the fact that people, some people had the nerve to refuse to leave the store when told it was closing down, because they waited all night to get what they came for, and they didn’t care who died or why…That was pretty brutal…and I wonder who these people were, did they need the bargain so bad, at any cost even if it ment a few had to die for it? I don’t care if they are strivers, it’s wake up time for superficial materialists to stop worshiping this material garbage that does nothing to enrich their lives or any life for that matter…But alas, who am I to point fingers to judge someone, I am not them, and have not walked in their shoes, thank God….It’s a sad event, with a message a moral to it…for me anyway…

Human kind’s inhumanity and selfishness at all costs is universal, it’s not just a US commodity…We just manifest it on a different level…Instead of mass ethnic cleansing, we go after other countries for our wealth (thus far) We have a strong police and military force that still can enforce order in our society so if there is one or two or hundreds of sacrificial incidents daily, it’s oops..“Incidents” like this go on daily, but without the hoopla, and news worthiness…How many homeless, or poor, disabled, elderly, women men and children die everyday because they are poor and our nation looks at the poor as deserving to be where they are? Are the invisible deaths, due to preventable illness, poverty or gross negligence somehow more tolerable or socially acceptable because the persons were not stampeded to death, at a Walmart on Black Friday? How many innocent people in the middle east have died by our tax funded bombs and bullets, by our tax financed military on a daily basis, for what really amounts to corporate oil interests in the middle east?  But being human this state of being is shared world wide in different venues…We are unfortunately, selfish radicals, who are taught from childhood the “Us against Them” ethics of life…They are bad, they are wrong, we are not…Radical Capitalism, radical socialism, communism, all the ism’s and religions, have done nothing for humanity other than separation and manipulation of human life…Little steps, like advocating social responsibility, and encouraging and teaching critical thinking skills, appreciating individualism, knowing that we are really dangerous and not very civilized culturally and individually and not fooling ourselves is wise..Social change in our public spaces, like the Japanese schools whose students take turns cleaning/serving in the lunch rooms, and cleaning up their own class rooms, invests children in their personal responsibility for the public spaces they use daily…, This plants the seeds of social responsibility. We do not feel responsible for the Walmart’s, they didn’t hire enough employee’s, their doors were defective, they are a bad bad corporate giant…That takes away social responsibility for the bargain hunters who crashed the door and stampeded a person to death to save a few dollars…I also want to add, it’s not just Walmart, but Target, Sears, KMart, Home Depot, Lowes, Walgreens, Shopco, Costco, Sams Club, Toys or Us, McDonald’s, Burger King, Jack In the Box, Wendy’s, GoodWill, Value Village and many more.These corporations underpay, use sweat shop labor, take advantage of and keep people down, to stay rich..Toys R Us, had the Walmart model of Union busting, third world buying, corporate welfare policies before Walmart existed..Do you know that Goodwill industries is really not good will, training or a hand up for the disabled, that this nonprofit corporation is just another scam for the rich who have ran it for years, and that’s a common truth that most people have known forever, yet they still support the crooks who own it! I am as materialistic, ignorant, easily manipulated by opinion, news, politics and religion as anyone in the world. I try not to fool myself into thinking I am not!  It’s easy to be a smug finger pointer especially at the greedy Long Island Walmart stampeders who killed a poor temp worker.. The question is, how can we as individuals help our culture/ourselves to rise above the places that we are all stuck in…Which seems to be, how to live life without killing, hurting, oppressing, controlling, stealing from, manipulating and lieing to each other (and the earth we live on, are tied to for life) and to ourselves.

The Kitty Genovese phenomenon distilled the fear urban living engenders in ordinary citizens who hear screams in the night. It was profoundly disturbing, but the neighborhood people who, for whatever their reasons, didn’t come to her aid could be forgiven their blind fear and the inaction that flowed from it. The recent Wal-Mart incident is another matter.

Cocco calls the shoppers “strivers” in her weak attempt to explain their economic desperation and paycheck-to-paycheck existence.  Sorry, this doesn’t begin to tell the truth about these hominids. A sobering reality of this tragedy is that the perpetrators have crossed the line and descended into barbarism; basic descency, respect for human life, courtesy, restraint, consideration for the safety of a stranger, respect for the law and in general, civilized behavior—formerly assumed to be part of the “American Way” of life and social interaction in public places, taught to children in most American families at an early age, presumed to be the basic mode of acceptable behavior required of all American citizens regardless of region or local culture—have been supplanted by a kind of survivalist savagery and utter disregard for others, an absence of civility or self-restraint, a dull-witted self-absorption and hysterical selfishness that could in this case actually lead to the trampling death of a store employee—these are traits usually associated with primitive societies and third world shitholes. If this Wal-Mart incident had occurred in Somalia or rural India or central Pakistan or starving Zimbabwe, we might have considered it ordinary or routine. On Valley Stream, Long Island, it takes on truly frightening proportions, because of what it graphically demonstrates about the disintegration of the fabric of our civility and the composition of our citizenry. 

The “strivers” Cocco identifies are more like wild hyenas fighting over carrion on the plains of Africa. There’s no positive “striving” in their actions, just blind ignorance, frenzied, infantile demand for access to trumped-up “bargains” (these consumers likely do not even understand that lower prices offered by Wal-Mart for certain consumer electronic products are possible because these products sold by Wal-Mart are inferior in design and construction to the “same” product models offered at more upscale venues like Costco or Best Buy…price is the bait at the end of Wal-Mart’s hook), and the mindless herd mentality that justifies standing many hours in cold, damp darkness for the dehumanizing “privilege” of grabbing at the bargains first. 

This nation is in deep, deep trouble. America is looking more and more like “Dante’s Inferno”, without the religious overtones.  Since it’s likely that many if not most of those people in line are church-going, what does it say about the teachings of their churches and mosques and synagogues and the relative presence of those teachings in their lives?  Not much.

For me “Black Friday” has always been “No Shopping Day.” Long before the big blue box synonomous with “greed” was created. Long before they called it Black Friday for that matter.

I enjoy Christmas, my favorite part being able to take the grandkids shopping at a goodwill store, and letting them pick out their own gift. They love it, because they get to pick out anything they want!

If I spend money on toys in a commercial retail store, [NEVER a Wall-Mart] I set a limit, let the grandkids fill up a cart, then head on over to the fire-station. Then on Christmas Eve, the toys are given to kids who otherwise would get none! The grandkids love that too!

This tragedy is evident of mob mentality as much as public indifference. But the real culprit here is Wall-Mart. AND a commercially driven media that creates the frenzy that drives the desperate consumer to join the mob!

All across the country, retail outlets in anticipation of large crowds, provide barriers, security details and crowd control. Some stores give out tickets to limit the number in. Others provide enough store employees to maintain order throughout the process. But only in a Wall-Mart can we expect company policy that places corporate profit above the hired help, or the valued customer!

NO barriers. NO crowd control, and NO order!

Lets face it, hiring enough personel to make this mess a relatively orderly experience is beyond the budget priorities of Wall-Mart! Like everything else that store does, it’s not about the people, it’s about the money!

Even now!

Even after the fact that while no one died last year, the same store had the same doors broken down before the mob rushed in! I guess they decided this year, instead of having to pay to fix the stores doors, they’d hire ONE guy to keep it from happening.

But it’s still not their fault ... right.

Do you suppose the cheap bastards will pay for the guys funeral?

Probably not.

This was a terrible thing to hear about, but I am shocked that anyone is shocked by this. The American people have proven, time after time, that we do not care about ANYONE but ourselves. True, you may give a little at church or give some to the Salvation Army at Christmas, but we never care when we need to. What type of person would wait in line for hours to shop at China’s export store?  What type of person would trample a man to death for a “bargain”? The answer is an American. We have become a virus on the face of the world. Our culture values NOTHING but money. We are encouraged to spend even when we shouldn’t. We are given “credit” when we don’t need it.We are given rituals such as “Black Friday” or President’s Day sales and Memorial Day sales. We have forgotten what these days are REALLY for. We are a nation who loves money far more than we love Life. This tragedy simply brings this ugly fact to the surface for a while. I say for a while, because that is how long anyone will care. I am all for boycotting Christmas, as it is an empty ritual anyway. Christmas no longer has much to do with family, friends or even religion. It’s about the almightty dollar. The swine who perpetrated this deed at that virus called Wal-Mart are the rule, not the exception. We, as a nation, are getting pathetic.

Outraged: I would like to boycott employment agencies, but after I got laid off in September that was the only way I could get a job. Everyone is using them now. I agree it’s a scam, but so is most everything else being done to the American public. With a wife and three kids, I didn’t have much of a choice. Peace.

Good article.  A quote: “The victim was, in fact, a seasonal worker not hired by Wal-Mart but by an employment agency.”

The actions of these shoppers is beyond… beyond.  Were they afraid they couldn’t get their “I got the best deal” fix…?  I think it exemplifies the depravity of mindset/mind control of some people.  What type of person is so brain-washed to arrive hours early to buy something…?  That’s bizarre.  What type of person when they see a mob forming AT A STORE doesn’t say forget it…? 

Boycott Christmas, boycott Walmart and boycott Employment agencies and any business that uses them…ASK, before you buy.

The “employment agency” is the “black death” of America, a scourge so unseemly they operate invisibly. A disgusting lot.

Employment agencies are utilized by “employers” to undermine wages, benefits and unions.  In fact, they are union and wage busters incognito.  This industry is so deplorable that they take a portion of even the lowest wage workers’ earnings.  Well… that’s not exactly how they “spin” it, but that’s what they do.

“Temps” is the unlikely term used to describe the workers who many times WORK FOR YEARS at their “job site”.  At the time Moore’s video was made “Manpower” was the number one employer in the U.S. If you haven’t seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXbJJThL9Vs

Walmarts’ claim that it was a “seasonal” employee is bogus number one and number two, why… when you are as large and properous as Walmart, do you retain an “employment” agency…? 

How much do you think the compensation will be to this worker’s family?  Zip…zero…nada…?  And for what,  $6.00-7.00 hr to be trampled to death by a bunch of degenerate consumers.

Gee… I hope they got their “Polly Piss Her Pants” for the “one time only price” of a man’s life.

Let our country, do the introspection that is necessary
for the inhumanity that happened on Black Friday.
Our country is now in the grips of the worst recession in its history, we have no more economic base to rely on for the welfare of our nation.
The means of production have long gone, shipped to other countries that have no labour laws and whose record on ecological laws and rules are abominable.
We are bereft of the very jobs that we need to move this country from a debtor nation to a First World nation. Yet in all the madness that is our economic policy, we still consume more than 25% of the world’s goods, while having less than 4$ of its population. Something is amiss in the way that America meets its needs and the needs of other nations. 
How in the world are we to be the moral compass for the world, when we cannot even provide for the most vulnerable of our nation?  How can we, America claim the superpower status that has been thrust upon us for one reason only, that we spend more than all the nations of the world combined on our armed forces and the technology to fight wars that are illegal and immoral.
We no longer hold that worlds regard, we have become the nation that we have despised most, a lawless and rogue nation that does not follow the rule of law and will not listen to the rest of the world when it says, “Enough is Enough, stop the madness and speak to your enemies.”
War is no option for our country, we must take up the mantle of diplomacy and wisely see the need for speaking rather than weapons of mass destruction.
We are a consumer nation trying to protect the limited resources that are available to the world, our greedy and avaricious natures, demand that we look the other way when in the frenzy to buy, people are hurt, the ecology of the world is ruined and we are lost in the morass of profound immorality.
Surely, there must be a way for our nation to recover its status, to remove the blinders of consumerism and greed, and return to the premise of being our brother’s keeper.
This incident is just a microcosm of the true nature of our nation today.  We have to reverse the trends of greedy consumerism and replace that with the enlightened and reasonable caring of our brothers around the world. For we are all one, we are not separate from one another, we live on a dying planet that must be helped or we are doomed to extinction as a species. Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten the need for caring and compassion. Both of which were not shown that truly Black Friday when a seasonal worker for a company that hires people out to Wal-Mart at low pay scale rates, was trampled to death by an insurmountable mob of greedy and avaricious people with nothing more on their minds other than the fact that they could obtain something that in the grand scheme of things does not matter and matters less than the life of one person.
America must wake up to the reality that we are now a
debtor nation and someday soon the providers of that debt will call in their chips and we will be left with nothing more than a memory of the status we once had. Sadly, though, the people of this country, foresee nothing more ahead than the newest and latest technology at lower and lower prices, which products are made on the back-breaking labour of men and women virtually enslaved for our greedy consumerist natures.

As we comment on this article, let’s remember the human face to this tragedy resulting from the pathology of our society,

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/1/wal_mart_work er_crushed_to_death