Two Deaths Result from WalMart Stampede
November 28th, 2008Maybe I need a Zombie Uprising category.
Via: Daily News:
A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.
The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.
“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. “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 are still investigating and would not confirm the witness accounts. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. Police did say there were several injuries but weren’t more specific.
Jessica Keyes was among the shoppers. She told the Daily News she saw a woman knocked down just a few feet from the dying worker.
“When the paramedics came, she said ‘I’m pregnant,'” Keyes said.
Paramedics treated the woman inside the store and then, according to Keys, told the woman:
“There’s nothing we can do. The baby is gone.”
Walmart…. Uhg. I cant nd being near that place on any given day. I have seen the shenanigans of black friday at a walmart, its intense. Its amazing what people will do for a $25 DVD player.
Not that I ever had hope in humanity, but crap like this shows just how fucked we really are.
Boingboing.net (which is a pretty decent site, with fairly intelligent readers) ran with this story. Their comments section had an alarming number of people defending WalMart, and putting the blame on the zombies.
This kind of astro-turf campaign is becoming alarmingly regular. It could be orchestrated, or merely the result of pre-programmed online sheep – hard to tell. Depressing if internet users are so far gone as to defent this disgusting corporation.
As others have pointed out elsewhere – if this is how people behave for cheap DVD players, imagine how they’re going to act when they’re queueing up for food…..
Kevin, you may yet see a rowing boat crashing into the North Island, an emaciated Irishman slumped over the oars.
@dermot and the crashing rowboat
if you’re under 55, why not try the immigration route?
imagine how they’re going to act when they’re queueing up for food
That’s absolutely no joke. Just stay well clear.
Re: Defenders of Walmart: The capos were Jews who were appointed by Nazis to keep other Jews in line in the death camps. The average Reddit and BoingBoing reader aspires to join the capo class.
I was planning on doing an extended NZ post, but I don’t seem do get around to it. Here’s a random ramble on some things:
I don’t know how many people are doing Flash work in NZ, but expect about a 30% pay cut for any IT related job here. Of course, if you can manage to avoid living in the big smokes (Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington) the cost of living drops sharply. Jeebis, look at us. We’re severely poor, according to government statistics. We’re just smart about allocating resources to values; which is another way of saying that we’re frugal. HAHA
Hint: In rural areas, the trick to getting a good broadband connection is to buy a property that’s on the same Telecom box as a school. No matter how deep in the wopwops you go, if it’s near a school, there should be broadband there. The fastest connection I’ve ever been on in NZ was at Becky’s aunt’s and uncle’s 1000 acre farm, which is about an hour from nowhere. It’s about as rural as it gets. 2 megabits per second! They’re only a couple of Ks from an elementary school.
Finally, you’ll have to endure the sight of the Queenie on the money…or use your FPOS card a lot…or barter, etc.
I was talking to my chiropractor about how we have a great deal of freedom in rural New Zealand. He said, “Ancient Chinese proverb: The Mountains are high and the Emperor is far away.” HAHA
Real estate prices are dropping here, and the US$ has risen sharply against the NZ$. I think there’s a bit of buoyancy in the NZ property market because so many kiwis are returning home with their savings as the world falls apart. Especially from places like the USUK.
Becky’s sister and her husband are in that category. They’re on their way home from London. Becky’s brother has had fun around Europe for a while, but he’s had a guts full of it by now and is coming home.
Several of our friends are couples where one spouse is a Kiwi and the other is some kind of import. That’s Becky and me. We just met some great people who moved here recently. He’s a kiwi and his wife is from San Francisco. They didn’t have much of a plan for NZ, but they knew that they had to get the eff out of the U.S. They’re living in the next valley over from us now. (Si might be reading: See ya at the sausage sizzle at Playcentre later.)
Get this one: I know a guy from Dublin who met and married a Kiwi girl. One of his income streams is doing voice overs for Irish pubs that run radio ads. HAHAHA
Ok, the goats have ticks. Becky says I need to go.