>> > By Jack Healy and Angela Macropoulos
>> > Published: November 28, 2008 by the International Herald Tribune >> > (Global
>> > Edition of NY Times)
>> >
>> > A Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York was trampled to death by a >> > crush
>> > of shoppers who tore down the front doors and thronged into the store
>> > early Friday morning, turning the annual rite of post-Thanksgiving >> > bargain
>> > hunting into a Hobbesian frenzy.
>> >
>> > At 4:55 a.m., just five minutes before the doors were set to open, a >> > crowd
>> > of 2,000 anxious shoppers started pushing, shoving and piling against >> > the
>> > locked sliding glass doors of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York,
>> > Nassau County police said. The shoppers broke the doors off their >> > hinges
>> > and surged in, toppling a 34-year-old temporary employee who had been
>> > waiting with other workers in the store's entryway.
>> >
>> > People did not stop to help the employee as he lay on the ground, and >> > they
>> > pushed against other Wal-Mart workers who were trying to aid the man. >> > The
>> > crowd kept running into the store even after the police arrived, >> > jostling
>> > and pushing officers who were trying to perform CPR, the police said. >> >
>> > "They were like a stampede," said Nassau Det. Lieutenant Michael >> > Fleming.
>> > "Hundreds of people walked past him, over him or around him." >> >
>> > The employee, who was not identified, was taken from the Wal-Mart to
>> > nearby Franklin Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., >> > the
>> > police said. His exact cause of death has not been determined. The >> > police
>> > said that three other shoppers were injured and a 28-year-old woman who
>> > was eight months pregnant was taken to the hospital for observation.
>> > _____________________________________________
>> >
>> > How is it that people in NY think that they are more civilized than >> > those
>> > in most other parts of the country?
>>
>> This NY-er can not fathom how anyone can get so worked up about shopping >> on
>> Black Friday, enough to storm a Wal-Mart, no less. I have never been >> able
>> to figure out the "stampede" mentality at store doors.
>>
>> Cathy
>
> It is obvious you are not a poor person.
Do you assume that those Long Islanders in the Valley Stream area are poor??
formatting link
couple of excerpts: "Estimated median household income in 2007: $78,829 (it was $63,243 in 2000)
Valley Stream: $78,829 New York: $53,514"
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $428,480 (it was $202,600 in
2000)"No. I'm not poor. Nor am I wealthy. (Hey, I teach elem. school.) OTOH, virtually all of my friends - who are in the same income bracket, or higher - shop at Wal-Mart. But I hate dealing with their parking lots & am not overly fond of their practices re: employees. So I go there maybe 1 - 2 times/year. If that.
Cathy