Shoppers who remained inside their vehicles in the parking lot until the Valley Stream store's special 5 a.m. opening apparently clashed with people who had stood in line for hours outside Wal-Mart, police said.Makes sense and is very typical behavior of people who have been waiting in line for any period of time, either on foot or on the road. People are waiting patiently in their cars to get onto the freeway, and a car cuts around on the side in attempt to cut in front, what happens...all the cars in line inch up to the one in front to close the gaps so the line jumper can't merge in. People waiting patiently in line for a store to open and just as the store is about to open, other people show up and attempt to walk right in the door in front of people who had been waiting, what happens...the people at the back of the line attempt to get in first and close the gaps so the line jumpers can't get in.
When the store's doors opened, the conflict between the two groups - with "a considerable amount of people" who had stayed in their vehicles rushing to enter the store without waiting in line - fostered "mob mentality," Nassau Police Lt. Kevin Smith said.
"A whole lot of people started getting out of their cars and made a beeline for that door," Smith said, referring to the one set of doors open to shoppers.
"It's definitely a contributing factor - the mentality of 'They're not going to cut in front of me.'"
In the crush of an estimated 2,000 people, the set of doors was broken and Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Jamaica, a temporary security worker, was trampled, dying of asphyxiation, police said. No one has been charged in connection with the death, though police are investigating possible criminal charges.
Really simple and expected. That's why other retailers who run these types of door buster limited item sales do better crowd control. Before the store opens, they hand out vouchers to the people in the front of the line entitling them to first crack at the sale items. This greatly reduces the line jumping and pushing behavior because there no longer is any reason to rush into the store before anyone else. Walmart should have know this...they are not new at the Black Friday promotion game. But while other retailers attempt to avoid mad rushes into their stores, Walmart encourages it. Walmart loves to see shots of throngs of people running madly into their stores at the crack of dawn on TV...it's free advertisement for them. Those scenes say to people at home "look what great prices Walmart must have, all of those people are rushing to grab the deals, you should too".
Well, Walmart needs to learn that such hazardous advertising is not free. It cost a man his life, and for that they should pay up.
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