Could black Friday be the start of the Big "A"

is there help out there

NEW YORK – A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday after an "out of control" throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground, police said. At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening. Nassau police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man 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," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos." Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help the man were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Witnesses said that even as the worker lay on the ground, shoppers streamed into the store, stepping over him. 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." The 34-year-old man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined, and the man's name was not released. 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. At least three other people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries. Police said criminal charges were possible in the case, but Fleming said it would be difficult to identify individual shoppers. Authorities were reviewing surveillance video. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 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. "The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," said Dan Fogleman, a company spokesman. "At this point, facts are still being assembled and we are working closely with the Nassau County Police as they investigate what occurred." 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. ___

mrsjones5

No

reniaa

I don't think it's the 'Big A' but certainly a very tragic and sad incident, greed is an ugly thing, and knowing that that many people were outside the shop should have had more safety precautions in place.

frankiespeakin

I don't think that would be dramatic enough for jehovah he likes things more gory and something undeniably comming from him and not something mundanely attributed to bad judgement with an easy remedy. Something to bring him glory as the greatest and the best that can't be topped.

I would look more to volcanos or supper dupper wind storms, somthing with pezazz something that has jehovah the fearsome awesome god written all over it,,that's more his flamboyant way.

Locutus of Borg

BOO!!

Scared ya didn't I . .

I quit!

Maybe retaiters should be a little more responsible and not create an environment where situations like this can happen. They should known that people who get up in the middle of the night to save a few bucks on crap they don't even need aren't mentally stable. If they are going to encourage this type of behavior then they should be willing to pay the price