WalMart Worker Trampled to Death by Deal-Crazed Black Friday Shoppers

OK, Black Friday has officially gotten out of hand. A 34-year-old WalMart employee was trying to hold back the crowds at a Long Island store this morning at 5am, when they took the doors off their hinges and stormed the store. The man fell down and was trampled by over 200 people as he gasped for air. It’s sad and despicable, and it’s equally the fault of the dehumanised shoppers and the WalMart store it happened at.

Why was there no line set up? Why didn’t they let in a reasonable amount of people at a time? What kind of method is it to just allow hundreds of people to cram up against the doors, waiting for them to open? They may have wanted some photo op of people surging through the doors, but they willfully created a very dangerous situation.

Can you imagine if, say, the Apple store did this when the iPhone was launched? Or when the Wii was launched? When a large amount of people are expected for a retail event, organisation is needed, otherwise it creates a dangerous situation. This man’s death is on WalMart’s hands.

As for the people who did the trampling, well, I hope their cheap crap was worth it. They’ll have to live with the human costs of their deals for the rest of their lives. [NY Daily News]