March 28, 2024, 05:22:51 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: NEW CHILD BOARD CREATED IN THE POLITICAL SECTION FOR THE 2016 ELECTION
 
   Home   Help Login Register  
Pages: 1   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Jdimytai Damour, Walmart worker trampled to death in stampede. (asphyxiated)  (Read 3091 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« on: December 01, 2008, 07:38:40 PM »


Autopsy confirms Wal-Mart worker was 'trampled to death,' says Nassau's top cop

BY OREN YANIV, NICOLE BODE AND DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Monday, December 1st 2008, 6:31 PM
The Wal-Mart worker killed in a Black Friday stampede died of asphyxiation after being trampled by frenzied shoppers, an autopsy revealed Monday.

Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Queens, was crushed in the vestibule of the huge store when 2,000 frenzied bargain-hunters surged forward, Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said.

"He was in fact trampled to death in the most unfortunate way," Mulvey said.

The slain man's relatives were outraged to learn Damour died of suffocation. Early reports said he might have had a heart attack.

"The family is very upset," said lawyer Jordan Hecht, who represents Damour's two sisters. "This was preventable with just the slightest bit of caution."

Damour, a 6-foot-5 giant of a man, was a temporary worker at the store in Valley Stream.

He was standing in the vestibule when the doors opened at 5 a.m. and bargain-crazed customers knocked him down in hopes of snapping up TVs and vacuum cleaners at bargain-basement prices.

Mulvey called security lapses at the store a "recipe for disaster" and slammed Wal-Mart for dropping the ball on the biggest shopping day of the year.

"There was not enough security, proper security," Mulvey said.

Investigators are poring over video surveillance clips of the trampling. It is unlikely that anyone would face criminal charges.

Cops met with Wal-Mart and mall security officials in the weeks before Black Friday and offered suggestions to enhance security.

"We clearly put it in their plate," Mulvey said.

Mulvey said the store failed to erect barricades or implement other measures that could have held back the surging crowd.

Cops checked out the mall earlier in the morning, but all was calm, Mulvey said. Hundreds of shoppers were waiting in their warm cars and pushed to the door just as the store prepared to open before dawn.

Mulvey also said Damour had no training in security and may have been sent to the door only because he was so big.

Wal-Mart officials have said there was adequate security in place at the store.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/12/01/2008-12-01_autopsy_confirms_walmart_worker_was_tram.html
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
MsVada
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 1321



« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2008, 08:48:24 AM »

Our family is in awe over this one.  This is one I can't imagine,  Greedy Pushy Shoppers looking for the ultimate deal at "wally world" have to trample over people and actually kill someone?   

May they have a guilty conscience forever, and if they are caught, I hope they serve some time in jail. 

This year our family had decided not to buy gifts, we did donations and volunteered for non profits.  On Christmas Day, we are driving south to see family we haven't seen in years.  We hoped to capture the spirit of the holidays that seem to have been lost in the commercialization of stuff.

My heart goes out to the family of this victim.
Logged

Maine, born and raised!
MuffyBee
Former Moderator
Monkey Mega Star
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44737



« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2008, 05:35:32 PM »

Kin of NY man trampled by shoppers sue Wal-Mart

By FRANK ELTMAN – 2 hours ago

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — The family of a worker trampled to death in a "Black Friday" crush of bargain hunters at a Long Island Wal-Mart store filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming store ads offering deep discounts "created an atmosphere of competition and anxiety" that led to "crowd craze."

The lawsuit claims that besides failing to provide adequate security for a pre-dawn crowd estimated at 2,000, 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."

Wal-Mart, the adjacent Green Acres Mall, a realty company that manages the property and a security company hired to patrol the property were all named as defendants. None immediately responded to phone and e-mail inquiries seeking comment.

Jdimytai Damour, 34, had been hired by an employment agency as a temporary worker at the Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream and had been on the job about a week when he died, said his family's lawyer, Jordan Hecht.

The 6-foot-5, 270-pound man died of asphyxiation after being crushed early Friday morning by the crowd, which broke down the electronic doors in frantic pursuit of bargains. At least four other people were treated at hospitals, including a woman who was eight months pregnant.

Authorities suspect that because he was as big as an NFL lineman, Damour was placed at the entrance of the store to assist with crowd control.

"Those hundreds of people who did make their way into the store, literally had to step over or around him or unfortunately on him to get into the Wal-Mart store," Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said this week.

Police are reviewing store video to identify possible suspects in Damour's death, but Mulvey conceded that criminal charges are unlikely.

Mulvey said it was apparent to him that the Wal-Mart store about 20 miles east of Manhattan lacked adequate security to handle the crowds. He said police representatives met with retailers throughout the county two weeks before Thanksgiving and made it clear that security and crowd control for the sales was the merchants' responsibility.

Hecht said Damour's family also plans to file lawsuits against Nassau County and its police department.

County Attorney Lorna Goodman said, "The county has no liability in situations of this kind."

The lawsuit against Wal-Mart and the other companies was filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in the Bronx, the home of one of the victim's sisters, Elsie Damour Phillipe, the court-appointed administrator of his estate. It does not seek specific damages.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day stores broke into profitability for the full year.

The National Retail Federation believes Damour is the first store worker to die on the job in the post-Thanksgiving rush.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDXtETwP7G17BQsO07DecwxuziLgD94REDKG1
Logged

  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
Pages: 1   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Use of this web site in any manner signifies unconditional acceptance, without exception, of our terms of use.
Powered by SMF 1.1.13 | SMF © 2006-2011, Simple Machines LLC
 
Page created in 6.16 seconds with 20 queries.