[Vision2020] Wal-Mart Worker Dies After Shoppers Knock Him Down

[Tom Hansen]

>From ABC News at:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=6353623
  
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Wal-Mart Worker Dies After Shoppers Knock Him Down
Wal-Mart worker dies after being knocked down by throng of shoppers at NY 
store
By COLLEEN LONG

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http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/abc_wal_mart_violence_081128_mn.jpg
Police say a Wal-Mart worker has died after being trampled by a throng of 
unruly shoppers shortly after the Long Island store opened Friday.
 
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A worker was killed in the crush Friday after a throng of shoppers eager 
for post-Thanksgiving bargains burst through the doors at a suburban Wal-
Mart, authorities said.

At least four other people were injured, and the store in Valley Stream on 
Long Island was closed.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 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.

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," co-worker Jimmy Overby, 43, told the 
Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and 
killed in front of me. They took me down too. ... I literally had to fight 
people off my back."

Nassau County police said the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital 
where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. The man's name was not 
released and the cause of death was not immediately known.

A police statement said shortly after the store's 5 a.m. opening time, 
shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking (the worker) to the 
ground."

A metal portion of the door was crumpled like an accordion.

Shoppers around the country lined up early outside stores in the annual 
bargain hunting ritual known as Black Friday. Many stores open early and 
stay open late, and some of the most dramatic bargains are available in 
limited quantities.

Among the bargains offered by Wal-Mart for Friday were Samsung 50-inch 
high definition Plasma TVs for less than $800.

Witnesses told the Daily News that before the store was closed, eager 
shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save 
the worker's life.

"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead," said Halcyon 
Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation, and 
she and the unborn baby were both reported to be OK, said Sgt. Anthony 
Repalone, a Nassau County police spokesman. Four or five other people 
suffered minor injuries, he said.

Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at National Retail Federation, said the group 
knew of no other incident where a retail employee has died working on the 
day after Thanksgiving.

Wal-Mart is working closely with police, company spokesman Dan Fogleman 
said.

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top 
priority," Fogleman said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them and 
their families at this difficult time."

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Seasons Greetings, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"For a lapse Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
to work."

- Roy Zimmerman


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