Dec 1, 2008 8:27 am US/Eastern
Police Want Answers In Wal-Mart Trampling Death
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Jdimytai Damour, 34, was trampled to death by a surging crowd while working on Nov. 28, 2008, at a Wal-Mart on Long Island, N.Y.
CBS
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In this video still, the damaged doors of a Long Island, N.Y., Wal-Mart is shown after a Black Friday crowd stampeded into the store, killing a 34-year-old worker who was manning the doors.
CBS
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In this still from cell phone video, police try to revive Jdimytai Damour, a Wal-Mart worker who was trampled to death by a huge crowd of Black Friday shoppers on Nov. 28, 2008, on Long Island, N.Y.
CBS
Police are reviewing surveillance videos of a post-Thanksgiving shopper stampede that trampled a suburban Wal-Mart worker to death, but they acknowledge it may be difficult to bring criminal charges.
Nassau County police and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said no new information was available Saturday on the employee's brutal death, which rattled shoppers even as they flocked to the Valley Stream store a day later.
"It felt a little freakish," customer Ellie Berhun, 48, told the Daily News. "Some man lost his life because a VCR was on sale? Please. It's just too sad for words."
Police said the temporary worker, Jdimytai Damour, was mowed down as about 2,000 bargain-hunters surged into the store at Friday's 5 a.m. opening, leaving a metal portion of the door frame crumpled like an accordion.
Other workers were knocked to the ground as they tried to rescue Damour, and customers simply stepped over him and kept shopping even as the store announced it was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
Cell phone video obtained by CBS station WCBS-TV in New York shows Damour, a 34-year-old part-time employee hired as a holiday temp. He was crushed in the onslaught and pronounced dead an hour later. As responding Nassau police and paramedics tried to save him, they were also jostled and pushed to the ground.
"The man got trampled, stomped on - everybody banged through the doors," witness Terrence Howard said.
Witness Kimberly Cribbs said all those people who got in went right on shopping after the worker was run over.
"Oh yes, they're savages," Cribbs said.
At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or treatment for minor injuries. The store, about 20 miles east of Manhattan, closed for several hours but reopened Friday afternoon.
The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because it has traditionally marked the point when a throng of shoppers pushes stores into profitability for the year.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it added staffers and outside security workers and put up barricades to try to prepare for the crush. But police spokesman Detective Lt. Michael Fleming said Friday that security was inadequate for a scene he called "utter chaos."
Criminal charges are possible, but identifying anyone in the store's videos may prove difficult, Fleming said.
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.
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.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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