Wal-Mart worker dies in stampede by early birds

VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. – Hundreds of bargain-hungry shoppers stepped on a fallen Wal-Mart worker, who died Friday morning, after the crowd knocked down the Long Island store’s front doors – and the worker – during the “utter chaos” of a Black Friday shopping melee, police said.

“A throng of shoppers … physically broke down the doors” about 5 a.m. EST Friday and knocked the 34-year-old part-time worker to the ground as the crowd pushed its way into the store at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y., Nassau County police said.

Police identified the worker as Jdimytai Damour, of the Jamaica section of Queens.

“This crowd was out of control,” said Nassau police Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, whose squad is investigating the death. He characterized the melee as “utter chaos.” Fleming said an estimated 2,000 people had gathered in line about 5 a.m. as the store was preparing to open.

Asked at a news conference whether the store had enough security given the crowds that Black Friday shopping typically attracts, Fleming said no.

People in the rear of the line began pushing, cascading the people in the front into the doors, which were knocked off their hinges, Fleming said. Hundreds of shoppers who then streamed in stepped on the worker who later died, he said.

Fleming said the worker was a temporary worker sent by an employment agency. Fleming did not rule out criminal charges in the case, though he said it would be nearly impossible to identify individual shoppers. But, he said, authorities were reviewing surveillance video.

Shoppers who surged past the fallen Wal-Mart worker into the store were asked to leave by other store workers, some of them crying and visibly upset, said one shopper, Kimberly Cribbs, of Far Rockaway, N.Y.

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. “They kept shopping. It’s not right,” she said. “They’re savages.”

Another shopper said people were screaming and shoving in line before the opening.

The police got an emergency call at 5:03 a.m. reporting that the worker had been injured, and he was taken to Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m.

An exact cause of death hadn’t been determined, police said.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation. Three other shoppers suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Dan Fogelman, spokesman at Wal-Mart corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said Friday, “The safety and security of our customers and associates are our top priority.”