Tis the season to be sharing and caring, so why do people become so selfish and callous?
Jesus would be ashamed of what's become of his "birthday" and I'm not even Christian.

Close the store for the day? Ooooh, noooo! That would mean losing MONEY! What's the loss of one little ol' life, when you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars in a day! Whee!

Wal-Mart's new tagline should be "Making a Killing With Our Low Prices!

@RudeandRude: Yes, its the whole state. We don't care. We hate you.
/s

@fucktheconsumerist: why are you wasting your time reading and posting to this site?

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: These are human beings that are fully in control of their own actions. It can be stopped. It's not like these people are bullets being fired out of a gun - they're walking. Just because other people are walking around you doesn't make it an unstoppable force. What about all the rubberneckers on the freeway? Every time there's an accident, everyone's gotta slow down to look. Are there more accidents as a result? no. There's no stampede either. If people were more careful about themselves, and each other, like they were about their cars - this wouldn't have happened. The fact that people are joking about it in the background really just supports my argument, that we as a people have morally bankrupted ourselves to the point that seeing a dying man doesn't make anyone even flinch. No, they crack jokes. And continue shopping.

Still haven't heard of any public apologies from the Walton family about this incident. Even if they aren't found to be liable, morally they should apologize to all of the patrons who don't behave like animals while purchasing their shit.

@azntg: Ummm, not really. It really depends on where you're at and who you're hanging around with.

I really like this statement; "Whits sure do treat other whites pretty well." And you're commenting on racism? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

If you go into a small town where you aren't known, you are pretty much treated as an outsider that doesn't belong. Don't matter if your male, female, white, asian, latino, black, christian, hindu, atheist, catholic, etc. You're just not gonna be treated well. Why? Because people know everyone else, and they don't know you. And that's almost an absolute. I've been to a couple diners here in the past week that I really didn't feel welcome, people were looking at me, whispering, etc. The population of the town I was in was something like 1200. Everyone knew everyone else, and they just didn't like the outsider being there.

@PrudenceArgeius: I'd say looking at the size of the crowd, that there wouldn't have to be as many police officers as you would think. A crowds reaction to certain situations really depends on the circumstances around why there is a crowd in the first place.

Seeing that there have been statements to show that there were police there earlier, and at that point the crowd was fine, and when the police left the crowd started to get rowdy again. If some police were left there, then it probably would've turned out very differently.

Speaking as someone who has been sprayed and one who has had to use the threat of spraying into a crowd, I can say for a fact that most people are scared of it to the point that the threat would stop them from acting out. Those people that were continuing to act out, you take them out of the crowd, tell them to get lost, and/or arrest them if the need arises.

@Oranges w/ Cheese:

Yes, the person videoing this should have shoved the professionally-trained paramedics and cops out of the way and tried to take control of the situation. It's obviously the only reasonable thing to do.

I also shop at Dollar stores, because I don't make a lot of money myself, but the people shopping at the Dollar is indeed different than that I've seen the few times in the past I went and had a look at what Wall-Mart has to offer.

So, I don't see where my comment could be seen as being racist. Wall-Mart has shown that less-than-stellar individuals shop there and they come in all shapes and sizes and even colors... even white, which is not even a color per say.

And the "clientele" I don't want to be associated with is the kind of clientele that could see a man dying in front of them and making stupid and lame jokes about it. 'Nuf said.

@varro:

from the looks of his post, he's already been disemVOWELED.

@nicemarmot617: I just dont see that as unreasonable. I can see a very clear line of thought that leads one to sit outside a WalMart in the cold/their cars.

Let me say that I wouldnt wait outside because I just dont have that type of patience, hell, I hate waiting in normal lines. But just because you wouldnt do something doesnt make it unreasonable. And it certianly doesnt make us better than every single person in that crowd.

Case and Point: Anyone who lives/works in NYC will tell you that the subway gets crowded during rush hour. You have people waiting in bunches where the subway cars will stop. I've seen a pregnant lady get pushed down into the subway car before, does that mean that all the people bunched up and inching toward the door were at fault?

No, just the one asshole who extended there arms.

It would be awesome if enough people could refuse to work on the next Black Friday that these stores wouldn't be able to open at all. It might only delay the inevitable but it would be an awesome protest.

I don't think you have a good understanding of crowd dynamics or peoples resonses to OC spray.

Did you see the size of this crowd? A couple officers at the door and a few more in the crowd would have done nothing but endanger the officers.

As for the OC, have you been sprayed with it? And I mean really sprayed, not "Oh i caught a wiff of it once at a party"? I can tell you that once you catch a real spray you are going to try and extricate yourself from that locationas quickly as possible, a reaction that, given the crowds size and demeanor, would have quickly caused the situation to further deteriorate.

As a person living on long island I dont understand why anybody does any major shopping there.

Especially at one so close to nyc where there are much better stores.

HEck even pc richards is better then mcdonalds, then you have some cool mom and pop stores also.

This has nothing to do with long island or nyc and more to do with the types of people who would wait outside of a WALMART all night for a sale in any part of the country.

Close your eyes, clear your mind, and consume till you die.

No excuse, just a little understanding. It could also be a coping mechanism to atrocities they've grown accustomed.

if this sale event took place in New York it would be held at 9PM (after brunch) and would include drink specials or no one would even show up. the NYPD would have been 3 seconds away on foot to do basic crowd control, not x minutes away by car.

most importantly, unlike any other interchangeable suburban cesspool where this horrible tragedy could have taken place, New Yorkers already know how to handle themselves around crowds of people because we do it EVERY DAY as a matter of choice, not just on a once a year spending fuckfest of soulsucking possession hoarding that ends up killing people.

@Mr. Guy: A little touchy are we. Or does Ash78 speak the truth? Because most people in places you consider provincial do see New York like that. Perhaps Mr. Guy should spend life someplace like Kansas City, or from his perspective worse still Tulsa or Wichita.

Frankly the rudest most stressful place I've been is Chicago. If New York is worse, I won't go. I live northwest of Los Angeles for those who are curious.

Oops, your racism is showing! Or were you being plain old, ordinary assholes?

CPR ?

I saw the video that had those comments and I think the picture takers were also commenting how come they aren't giving mouth to mouth .

But isn't the latest in CPR to emphazize compressions and not breaths ?

Are you kidding? 1979...

People go ahead and cast aspersions at NYC / Long Island / Valley Stream - whatever...

The propensity for violence in "bad neighborhoods" isn't a problem caused by any one person or group, but it is perpetuated by fear, poverty, greed, sadness, drugs (or rather drug prohibition), widespread distrust of authority... the list, sadly, goes on.

We can start blaming people at isolated events like this, oh sorry, we can continue blaming the people at these events... But we really need to start solving the wider problems. And we need to do it intelligently and carefully and sustainably.

You do not use pepper spray or rubber bullets against a surging/rioting crowd unless you have a place for them to disperse to. You *could* push them away from the door with a wall of shields/batons and a PA system clearly telling them to go in a particular direction.

You may not be able to stop it once it starts- I know because I too was in a huge and incredibly frightening stampede - but I guess the whole point is that it shouldn't be allowed to start anyway. It's kind of inevitable though with a bunch of people attempting to crowd into one tiny doorway. Security should have had a line snaking along side of the building... ever heard of a stampede from a line on the side of a building?
This sort of accident is so easy to prevent that it boggles the mind that Walmart even stays in business.

People who shop at Walmart don't have a lot of room for making fun of other people.

Who's uneducated?

I head down to the southeast from time to time to meet with friends and relatives. And I can tell you this. Whites sure do treat other whites pretty well. But if you're not white (e.g.: European descent)... well, it's a whole different story.

Overt racism isn't there anymore; you won't see most people call you racial slurs in front of your face. But the atmosphere is not the same. I have it lucky in comparison. I'm Asian, so in some cases, it's not as bad as with what I notice with how my Latino and Black friends seem to be treated by some people.

While people generally don't treat others that great in NYC, at least I don't notice that racial differential as much over here.

As of the last four facts, I'll agree unquestioningly.

I sure as hell wouldn't have stayed around with a crowd like that myself, and the callous disregard for a man's life is horrifying, but in a mob situation like that, singling out individuals who may or may not have intentionally caused harm is going to be pretty impossible. How do you charge someone when there's no way to tell if they even saw him at all and were pushed along beside him and never touched him at all, if they stepped on his finger accidentally while being swept past, or if they saw him down and intentionally stomped on his head?

There is something called mob mentality which basically is the phenomenon of a group of people acting differently while in a group under stress than they would act individually. This is why people died in that nightclub fire. Even though there were other exits that were clear and easily accessible most people bunched up at the front and jammed up. There was once a fire in a circus tent where a bunch of people died trying to get out the main entrance when all they had to do was lift up the canvas at any point around the perimeter and crawl underneath. The fact is its human nature and even though we would all like to think were smart enough to not do something like this, the fact is that some of us would make the same mistakes.

Giant radioactive emitters need to be placed on both sides of the doors of all Walmart's on Black Friday. These will eliminate the ability of those people to breed in the future.

The monsters here are the people in line. There are plenty of limited supply queues in the world that don't end in violence, sports games, concerts, store openings.

Does Walmart have the credit card receipts of the buyers from the day?

The DA should be serving a warrant to acquire the names.

All of those casting aspersions at NY should remember that the deaths at The Who concert in 1979 happened in white bread Cincinnati.

I propose a simple solution:

Police should be forced to work the door next year. If there's a violent trample, at least nobody worth mentioning gets hurt. Clearly, if the cops have such an attitude towards life and limb, then they must hold true the same of themselves.

On the upshot, if the crowd does get out of hand, the cops can (and being NYC police, undoubtedly will) start shooting. If that doesn't control the crowd, nothing will.

@thebluepill: In that we're naive - or that we're mindless sheep filled with desparation and evil intent? because I'd have to agree with you on both points there.

Here's my impression:
The Name's Ash78, Housewares - "Hey, New York, this is why the rest of the world thinks all of you are huge assholes"

Mr. Guy - "Screw you and your big words, I don't even know how to visit dictionary.com. And by the way, all New Yorkers are not the same (btw I didn't catch that you said explicitly that the REST of the world feels that way, not you specifically). Yeah...Everybody from Alabama is the same, not NY! Ya Jerkwad! Yous guys are all imbred rednecks"

*the sound of irony chiming in*

New York City is far from a cesspool. I moved here back in 2003 from very very white very very very small town America and true, while it took awhile to get used to the lack of manners and plain old inconsiderate foul behavior of some - it didn't take long to identify the root of the problem. Go to East NY, Bedstuy (if you want to get shot), most of SpaHa (Spanish Harlem), certain parts of Jamaica and yes, it is very dangerous. These are hotbeds of people who are uneducated, rude, ignorant, and violent with a capital V. When you have an issue / crime occur in a nicer neighborhood, say Battery Park (since someone mentioned that earlier) where do the perps come from? One of those aforementioned neighborhoods 99.55 of the time. Don't over-generalize, yeah the place was a shit hole in the 70s, but it's a far cry from that now. A lot of places here are down right family friendly.

@unobservant:

Oh come on now.. Canada is not so "different" than the US.. Hell.. Canada is 95% the same in almost every way.. Spent a lot of time there.. even in Quebec.. its not that different at all..
People, places, things.. attitudes..

NYC is a cesspool most everyone knows that. Why is this such a big surprise. How many of the worst crimes in the country have happened there. The disconect people have is just plain fear. If you are not being quite due to fear you must be waiting your turn to score on someone. The thug mentality is a boil upon the ass of America. Thugs and the wanabees all need to be in jail not on videos. If more people stood up and said no to this crap it would slow way down.

The police shouldn't be held accountable. This is Walmart's terrible management and planning, and everyone in the Rush should be charged with accessory to murder as well.

i've been to that mall, green acres, and i can unequivocally say that it is not a safe place. i would never take my children shopping there. the vast majority of people who shop there are thugs, and think absolutely nothing of physically attacking another shopper. valley stream and the surrounding areas are in fact, very dangerous, and many of worst murders and crimes that have happened in new york city have happened in the vicinity of that area.

@K J:

I am a former NJ boy living in AL '89-'93 and then TN from 1996 on. Visit NJ often for relatives.

Fact: Customer service level is much,much lower (sucks?) in the NYC/NJ/Philly/DC region versus SE USA.

Fact: Common courtesy among people lacks in the NYC/NJ region verus the SE USA.

Fact: Grocery store aisles are usually narrower in the NYC/NJ region.

Fact: More free soda/pop/coke refills are found at SE USA restaurants vs. NYC/NJ region.

Fact: More all you can eat restaurants in SE USA.

Fact: Car insurance costs less.

etc, etc, etc, et al

It's not like this hasn't happened before - it's just that no one had been killed to date.

@nicemarmot617: There is a lack of customer service and common courtesy among NY City region businesses and customers. This is found in most other parts of the USA.

@nicemarmot617: I agree.

Slept in on Friday, bought stuff online in the morning, still saved "$50 bucks" and nobody got trampled or shot. Avoiding the unreasonable people...priceless.

@lockdog: Fuck, if they circled Long Island then they sure as hell circled Connecticut and that simply will not stand. I for one am going to stampede this view out of the minds of America.

Look on YouTube - you can find videos of people being knocked down and trampled in previous Black Friday frenzies.

The question is whether negligence of this sort is severe enough to charge the company with manslaughter - certainly, doing something like setting of pyrotechnics inside near flammable acoustic foam would be gross negligence; however, the owners of the E2 nightclub in Chicago were acquitted when a stampede killed 21 after a bouncer used pepper spray inside and panicked the crowd.

@blackmage439: I'd say the people/crowd should be held most responsible. These were ADULTS, not kids. They should behave like ADULTS, and be able to buy some products without trampling someone to death. They shouldn't have to be handheld by underpaid staff or by Johnny law.

@Triterion: I blame the crowd way more than the police. Were the police making snarky comments about the deceased? Did the police kill this person? That's like watching news of a random homicide on television and saying "I hope the police are held responsible for this."

@K J: You're assuming that these people that are lining up at 1:00 AM in the freezing cold for golden the opportunity to buy $5 DVDs have credit cards and Internet connections.

This whole situation was just unconscionable, on the part of everyone involved. Of course, Wal-Mart's entire business model is unconscionable, driven by margins of fractions of pennies and enabled by third-world suppliers, so we're just beginning to reap what we've sown with them, as a society.

On a related note, what happens if food, gas, etc. get in short supply? What if it's not just flat-screen TVs but dinner for your kids? Can you imagine?

Let's all stop pretending like we are so surprised that black people behaved this way, enough with the PC bullshit that everyone tries to hide behind.

It's not the police's fault you sheep.

This Black Friday bullshit is created to incite this. As long as someone doesn't die, it's good PR, and a spectacularly local newsable photo-op of manufactured demand. Guess they can try again next year.

And learning this made me wanna vomit even more.

This Wal-Mart store is located on the actual border of Queens and Nassau. I would say that almost 80-90% of the shoppers are from Queens. This store is disgusting.

And learning this made me wanna vomit even more.

Heck, even in Macon, GA (where I live) there was footage of women hitting each other as they fought their way into a Target store. As soon as they were inside and peeled off to shop they were fine.
Crazy what this does to people.

What the hell ASH78, get back to Jalopnik where you belong;)

/New Yorker

What does surprise me is how much coverage this is getting. Funny how the general American public magically starts giving a crap once the media spins the story a certain way. I guarantee that most of the people condemning the crowds wouldn't have conducted themselves any better in this situation.

@TracyHamandEggs!: Jack McCoy would storm into the board meeting and charge everyone with Depraved Indifference for Human Life.

Unfortunatly he's not the ADA anymore and this isnt Law & Order

@whitefang2001: /picks jaw off floor (sorry, I have big black lips and a hunched back cause ya know, I'm black)

This RaFlaWa is deliciously tempting. Instead I'll direct your attention to the minorityless video clip below. fast foward to the 1:00 mark for instant gratification.

Not shown in the video is the crying 8 year old who's doll was snached out of her hand.

@unobservant: I just read what I wrote and realized how naive and Canadian I sound. I accept your violent responses with humilty and grace.

Didn't someone once say something about learning from history, lest we be doomed to repeat it? I think it was some guy who got famous once it was posted on YouTube or something. ;)

I don't even live in the US, and I've learned a little more about how dangerous and desparate people can get for seemingly no reason and, as a result, will steer clearer of those situations in the future.

I've got an idea: why don't we stop pointing blame-stained fingers at everyone else, look at what happened, and pledge not to let it happen again?

@nicemarmot617: Wow what a blanket statment. If I had a kid and he wanted a [insert expensive toy] for Christmas and I decided that he deserved it and that I could afford it, but I wanted to save maybe $50 bucks and didnt mind getting up at 4:30am or earlier, I'm all of a sudden unreasonable.

No, but you just proved to be unreasonable and that's sad.

Yay, the spirit of Christmas.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: I for one aggree with your level headed assesment of this horrible situation.

Wow, just wow

/society fail

We really have gone a long way down since the 70's of my youth. I wouldnt let my child out of my sight to shop today. Nor would I go to certain parts of town or events. Its now simply just asking for trouble.

~watches his sarcasm meter explode~

The jackass that threw that punch should die in a fire.

Seriously, the only people to blame are the morons in the crowd. Their concentrated, contagious stupidity caused the death of one, and injury of others. All of you in that mob that were pushing and shoving are going to HELL. And those of you making making jokes while the paramedics tried to save someone's life, I would personally love to send you there myself.

This crap is nothing more than a numbers game. If Wal Mart knows that many people are going to be there, they have to make sure the people are somewhat organized. It's on them. That doesn't excuse the people, but when you get that many people there, its all a mob mentality and you lose all sense of individuality.

Apathetic police.

Careless department store.

Heartless, greedy assholes.

I don't see a singular person/company/organization who deserves the blame here. When you mix all of those things together, you're asking for trouble. I only hope people, and especially companies, realize that you don't need to get up at 3am on Black Friday to get the latest Fondle-Me-Elmo toy. Continuously breeding this mentality only threatens the idea of a civilized culture.

You can replace "probably wouldn't" with "didn't"

Also, you can replace "minority" with "ghetto mentality"

But that is a huge part of this story that is being ignored as the elephant sitting on the coffee table.

@whitefang2001: And the ass-reaming starts in 3, 2...

I said the same exact thing in my head.

Oh yeah, and those comments, another reason why I don't shop a Wall-Mart. I don't want to be associated with this kind of "clientele".

@whitefang2001: that is just ignorant. people dont behave a certain way because of their color.

You can possibly argue that Walmart's management may have committed some contributory negligence but would be hard pressed to get past the fact that it was the people who were solely responsibility for their behavior, and it didnt happen (to this extent) at any other location.

@Triterion:

Except the police weren't at fault. It was Wal-Mart for not providing adequate security and planning.

But, in all honesty, it's the crowd mentality and the idiotic customers that are really at fault for killing Jdimytai.

Speaking with commisseration from the glass house that is Alabama, let me tell New York that this is in line with how most of the world views them, sadly.

Still waiing for WalMart to be charged with inciting a riot