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Re: Crazed shoppers kills Wal Mart clerk.
NEW YORK (AP) — A worker died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers when a suburban Wal-Mart opened for the holiday sales rush Friday, authorities said.
At least three other people were injured.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede but said a "medical emergency" had caused the company to close the store, which is in Valley Stream on Long Island.
Nassau County police said the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened. The cause of death was not immediately known.
A police statement said shortly after 5 a.m., a throng of shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking (the worker) to the ground." Police also said a 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries and were also taken to hospitals.
The dead worker's name was not released.
"Local authorities are looking into the situation," said Wal-Mart representative Dan Fogleman. But he said it would be "inappropriate for me to share any additional information" until authorities investigate further.
Shoppers around the country lined up early outside stores in the annual bargain hunting ritual known as Black Friday. Many stores open early and stay open late. The Valley Stream Wal-Mart usually opens at 9 a.m.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art … gD94O1UD01
In related headlines...
40.000 shows up at farm for free potatoes and carrots.
In a sign of bad economic times, more than 40,000 show up when a Weld family invites people to gather surplus produce.
By Allison Sherry
The Denver Post
Updated: 11/23/2008 12:20:46 AM MST
Want one more palpable sign of a desperate economy?
An estimated 40,000 people came to a Weld County farm Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks.
Cars snaked around cornfields and parallel parked along Colorado 66 and 119 early in the morning to get free food from the Miller family, who farm 600 acres outside of Platteville, about 37 miles north of Denver.
As this prolonged Indian summer continued, the Millers had decided to give away produce because so much was left over at the end of their annual fall festival. Any day now, a few deep freezes would kill it off.
They expected between 5,000 and 10,000 people spread out over a couple of days. Instead, they found themselves on Saturday morning inundated with cars and people with sacks and wagons and barrels ready to harvest whatever was available.
The Millers canceled the second day of the giveaway originally planned for today because, as Chris Miller put it, "the pickins' are very slim now."
At one point, 30 acres of family farmland had become a parking lot. Their crowd estimate of 40,000 plus was based on the number of cars. Sheriff's officials said they "wouldn't be surprised" if that count was accurate.
Traffic was backed up almost to Interstate 25, and police ticketed people who had illegally abandoned their cars in the frenzy.
"Overwhelmed is putting it mildly," Miller said. "People obviously need food."
Evidently, Platteville isn't the only place where this is the case. Last week in Denver, thieves broke into freezers owned by the Park Hill Grandparents Organization and stole Thanksgiving trimmings — including more than a dozen frozen turkeys — set to be donated.
And in Lakewood on Saturday, people lined up in the dark at 6 a.m. to collect Thanksgiving boxes, donated by the Jeffco Action Center. By the end of the day, 5,141 people had gotten food — the biggest demand in 40 years.
At the Miller Farm, it never got truly unruly.
They had friends and family members help direct cars. Sheriff's deputies cruised up and down highways trying to move traffic along, after fielding complaints from neighbors.
The family makes most of its money in the summer and fall, visiting 42 farmers markets a week, and hosting a fall festival where relatives charge an entry fee and then teach people about where their food comes from.
Normally, any unpicked produce goes back to the land. But after hearing reports of food being stolen from some nearby churches, the Millers decided to let people take what they wanted for free.
Sandra Justice, a Greeley resident who works at a technology company, brought her mother and son to pick potatoes. The price was nice, she said, but Justice also enjoyed picking her own food in these downtrodden times.
"Everybody is so depressed about the economy," she said, noting she hauled off about 10 bags of vegetables. "This was a pure party. Everybody having a great time getting something for free."
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_11052263
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Swing to the rhythm of the new world order. 
Re: Crazed shoppers kills Wal Mart clerk.
It all reminds me of the old school public executions. People are fucking nuts. Willing to do anything for a fix.
But it is also a sign of the fear and economic impact the financial crisis has made, and it's going to get worse. We could be in for some fucked up shit all over the board. Over here people are killing themselves in increasing numbers after going broke and defaulting on their home etc.
These bankers and "leaders" better start watching their backs.
Re: Crazed shoppers kills Wal Mart clerk.
I just can't imagine how this happened. Did he get pushed over & take a nasty fall banging his head? Then people just kept walking past him?!
I can grasp the concept of people dying at rock concerts, I don't agree with it, but I can visualize it happening. This? No. Just absurd. I hope the people who did it have equal karma coming their way.
Re: Crazed shoppers kills Wal Mart clerk.
Sought: Wal-Mart shoppers who trampled NY worker
Nov 29, 7:11 AM (ET)
By COLLEEN LONG
NEW YORK (AP) - Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.
Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday's video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.
Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries. The store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.
Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening at a mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the employee, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.
"This crowd was out of control," Fleming said. He described the scene as "utter chaos," and said the store didn't have enough security.
Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help Damour were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store.
Damour, 34, of Queens, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.
A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, where she and the baby were reported to be OK, said police Sgt. Anthony Repalone.
Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."
"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said. "They kept shopping."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store. It said it tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.
"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted."
A woman reported being trampled by overeager customers at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in Farmingdale, about 15 miles east of Valley Stream, Suffolk County police said. She suffered minor injuries, but finished shopping before filling the report, police said.
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 when stores broke into profitability for the full year.
Items on sale at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart included a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9.
AP retail writers Anne D'Innocenzio and Mae Anderson contributed to this report.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081129/D94OJ4NG0.html
Re: Crazed shoppers kills Wal Mart clerk.
I think every customer in the store should've been 'exterminated' "Dawn Of The Dead" style.
That's about how worthless the losers are that sit at a Wal-Mart for 12 hours waiting for the doors, then kill an employee, just so they can get a fuckin' Emerson (which is shit) HDTV for $388.
Fuck that shit.
Re: Crazed shoppers kills Wal Mart clerk.
I don't mind people wanting a deal or waiting for a deal. But, why wait outside of Wal-marts (in some places in the freezing fucking cold) to save a hundred bucks when they could just go to work and make the money in the same time?
I think camping out has become fashionable like with video game console launches, which really sucks because you have assholes buying shit just to say they were there or did it (they're the ones causing shit) and then ruining it for the real fans who just want to buy their stuff because they're so eagerly awaiting it.
The funny thing with the console launches was people thought they'd be cool on the internet to wait in line and buy the shit to smash it. Then, when they did, everyone there just laughed at them rather than acted offended. What's the statement you're making when you do the same as them and then have them laugh at you for all the world to see? Epic fail. 1337, yo.
