Walmart Worker Trampled to Death in Nassau County, New York

An AP news Article today reports the tragic death of a worker at a Walmart store in New York. He was trampled by customers who broke the door frames when they were being opened for business on Friday.

“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.”

Why is it so darned difficult? Put them on TV, run them, let the public see them. See if someone comes forward. Check the credit slip names of the first five hundred purchases and get pictures of the people who signed the slips. If they tried that hard to get in they didn’t leave empty handed! Pull them in for questioning if they will not talk outside. Ask if anyone was with them. See who lawyers-up. This is a homicide investigation, not the theft of a pack of gum. As an aside I consider that wrong but I wouldn’t be as aggressive on looking for the perp. This wasn’t a crowd that trampled the guy, this was three to five people who knocked him down and went over him. Others probably stepped on him but once the frenzy was there they were being pushed by the crowd. Look at the other workers in the store that were hurt trying to rescue him. Look at the ire when the store was closed. I never go to this kind of thing because I have said for 40 years they are dangerous. Mobs kill!

“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.”

But as reprehensible as this is, the police are not without blame. Why do I say that? Look at the statement of the spokesperson.

“This crowd was out of control,” Fleming said. He described the scene as “utter chaos,” and said the store didn’t have enough security.

Really? The store needed more security? This was not a shoplifting or someone getting hostile. This was a mob. Should the store prepare for a homicidal mob? What security would have stopped them? Billy clubs? Mace? Guns? Should store security be armed? If there had been ten armed police there (and there probably should have been with that large of a gathering) could they have prevented this? Were there calls earlier to police, before the store opened? How long after the call did the first officer get on the scene? Was it treated as a priority or was it set to age to see if it would go away? And finally, why hasn’t a reporter asked these questions and reported the answers.

I have a scanner and in York City I hear at times the police dispatcher tell an officer this has been aged twenty minutes! The officer is to go and see if the problem has resolved. They are holding a ticket for twenty minutes to see if the problem will go away! Why?

Did someone call before the store opened and complain that the mob was getting unruly and the police took the wait and see attitude? I don’t need to know this answer but the people of Nassau County should. I am asking the questions for them. The media should be doing a time line on this, when did each event happen? Why the media? Because they are to be the watchdogs and they are the only ones with the ability to get the information. The police will lawyer-up with their union representatives if it even looks like citizens want to check and make it difficult. The police officials will circle the wagons to defend against attack. All of them will point fingers at Walmart who if you are really honest probably has done nothing significant wrong or left undone anything they could have done. I worked the polls on election day. I saw what I would call a hostile mob at one time during that day. I was concerned. One trigger and it could have easily gotten nasty.

My guess on this is the man who was killed committed one error. He didn’t get out of the mob’s way in time. That mob was just as dangerous as a herd of stampeding cattle and with about the same mental level. He may have dropped a key or a pen and bent to pick it up. He may have seen something on the floor that could haven been a hazard and bent to pick it up to protect others. We may never know but he paid for that with his life. If you want to see the violence with which this mob was being driven, note that they bent the door frames.

I would love to have the police dispatcher radio tape for two hours before and two hours after the event. I would like to go through and log the calls, to, from, time, content. I would like to know. Why? Because this could happen other places! My thought on any event like this is to learn from it. If we do and learn to prevent or make it less likely to recur and Jdimytai Damour may not have totally died in vain. If we bring to justice the ones who cared so little for their fellow man that a cheap DVD was worth more than his life, maybe Jdimytai Damour will not have totally died in vain. If we make people, the police, whomever more responsive, maybe Jdimytai Damour will not have totally died in vain.

Jdimytai Damour should have lived to see his children grow up, and see his grandchildren and their children. Jdimytai Damour will not because of greed and lack of caring about each other. I apologize to the family of Jdimytai Damour for using his name repeatedly but I want someone to see it enough that it burns in their mind. I want Jdimytai Damour to be more than a nameless, faceless person in a poorly written story in AP. I want people to remember Jdimytai Damour as a fellow human being that got trampled by people in a hurry.

***UPDATE 11/30/2008***

A quote from a union leader appeared in another story. “New York’s largest grocery workers union on Friday urged federal, state and local authorities to investigate what it called ‘Wal-Mart’s failure to provide a safe workplace.’”

He continues his meaningless and uninformed tirade. “‘This incident was avoidable,’ said Bruce Both, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500. ‘Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? … This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart.’”

I agree with Bruce Both that this should be investigated but Both’s comments and thrust fly in the face of getting to the truth, learning how to prevent a repeat and in compassion to the family. Let’s face it. Both and his union have not been able to unionize Walmart. He and his union don’t get to line their pockets with the union dues from those wages. Let me assure you, that is big buicks, usually about two hours a month of pay from each worker. Union leaders decry management living off the backs of the workers but let’s face it, they do too. He makes no indication he had first hand information or even second hand information about the situation. He asks where the barriers were, the security. Justice would have been better served by him just keeping his mouth shut. But he isn’t interested in justice, he is interested in JUST US, the union. I believe his members should realize that if something is good for one local and not for the union the local will be sacrificed down to the last job. I know that first hand. The article continued.

“Wal-Mart said it had added additional internal security, third party security, more store associates and had worked closely with local police.

‘We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred,’ Hank Mullany, a Wal-Mart senior vice president, said in a statement.’

The Walmart manager was there. He helped with the preparations. Nobody who was there is questioning his statement. I would tend to believe it more than Both’s who wasn’t there and has as big an ase to grind as anyone from Walmart. In addition, Both can be irresponsible and go to excess with no possible repercussions. It helps his stature. The Walmart manager does not have that luxxury. If he overstates now it will most likely come back to haunt him.

Did Walmart not do enough? I don’t know. I will bet Hank Mullany is asking himself that question now and a year from now will still be doing it. I pray for him. Hank has the distinction now of having something in common with a battlefield commander who looses a man. No matter who or what is blamed he will probably always question, did I miss something.