# Wal-Mart Greeter Killed in Black Friday Stampede **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 28, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811 "2008-11-28T16:39:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/141 "2008-11-29T04:14:12Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > So, how many of the people involved in this stampede will line up again at 5am next year and do the same fucking thing again? Since every year there’s a story of someone getting trampled and the next year it happens again I’d say pretty much all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/142 "2008-11-29T04:21:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Oh, my God, that’s just [snerk] . . that’s horrible, that’s really [choke:o] awful, it’s tragic, it’s, it’s HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW- **HAW!!!** :p:p:p > > That was your reaction too. Admit it. Jesus Christ are you high? This post is beneath you. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/143 "2008-11-29T04:37:27Z")
Agreed. I might have gotten a little chuckle out of it if one of the stampeding customers ended up with a broken arm or something, but the poor bastard who got killed didn’t deserve this. His death was over something trivial- that doesn’t mean his death was trivial. Fuck you, **BG**. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/144 "2008-11-29T04:41:31Z")
**BG’s** backpedaling should be fun to watch, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/145 "2008-11-29T04:44:52Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > IMO, the motive for it doesn’t matter. Whether they were in the store to get bargains or to gun one another down–you don’t bring a gun into a public place like that. The fact that this a huge shopping day just adds ire. > I haven’t followed the story closely (or at all) since it broke, but I hope they ended up just killing each other. Um, yeah, okay, but if they were gang bangers or other criminal types, I really doubt that they would disarm to go shopping, or to a funeral, or to church, or the movies… No offence, but I don’t think they have the same thoughts on this matter as you do… ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/146 "2008-11-29T04:47:08Z")
I have one question, aren’t we in the middle of the worst depression since the Great Depression\*? How are any of these people affording to spend anyhow? At least that is what the news media has been telling me. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/147 "2008-11-29T04:53:02Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/148 "2008-11-29T04:55:43Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#): > > I have one question, aren’t we in the middle of the worst depression since the Great Depression\*? How are any of these people affording to spend anyhow? > > At least that is what the news media has been telling me. The news reports have been saying that while there’s a _lot_ of people in the stores, they’re **not** buying much of anything. I had to go to Wallyworld earlier tonight, and in years past, starting on Black Friday, if you wanted a parking spot near the front, and didn’t want to have to spend hours waiting in line just to buy toilet paper, you went at 3 AM or so. Tonight, the store didn’t seem to be all that more crowded than usual for the time of day it was, and I had no trouble finding a checkout line with nobody in it. Not a good sign. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/149 "2008-11-29T04:56:06Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#): > > At least that is what the news media has been telling me. The news media is telling you that because they’re doing a roaring trade in panic right now. In six months they’ll be back to predicting oil price rises at random and probably a bird flu epidemic or something. Unemployment was at 6.5% last month, which is just a hair under what economists call “full employment”. The sky is not falling. The stock market is not the economy. Nobody is repossessing your toilet seat. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/150 "2008-11-29T04:57:16Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > No. No? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/151 "2008-11-29T05:04:33Z")
> [@torie](#): > > No? No. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/152 "2008-11-29T05:19:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No. Maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/153 "2008-11-29T05:22:09Z")
> [@torie](#): > > No? I think **EJs Girl** was referring to **Brain Glutton’s** post. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/154 "2008-11-29T05:26:46Z")
> [@torie](#): > > Maybe? Alright. Take off your clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/155 "2008-11-29T05:27:50Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I’d say the morons who lack the self-control to _not_ mindlessly destroy things would be a safe target. Surely a nice, safe Target is a good thing compared to a freakishly dangerous Wally World ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/156 "2008-11-29T05:31:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Oh, my God, that’s just [snerk] . . that’s horrible, that’s really [choke:o] awful, it’s tragic, it’s, it’s HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW- **HAW!!!** :p:p:p > > That was your reaction too. Admit it. I must admit, this was my first reaction too. I could very easily be an SNL script. Maybe even it already was. Then I thought about it being a real person, dead, and I was sad - kinda sorta. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/157 "2008-11-29T06:06:05Z")
Seriously, BrainGlutton, what is wrong with you? Some poor joe trying to make a few bucks got killed. Is it because Wal-Mart greeters are old? Poor? Retarded? Do you think you’re above them? Better than them? What? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/158 "2008-11-29T06:11:46Z")
Maybe it’s just that I spent my own time in Retail Hell, and I would have killed to have a job as nice and clean and well-paying as Wal-Mart, but I could see myself there as I heard about it. Sure, there’s some amount of humor in the idea of a wave of humanity. Like Wile E. Coyote. Some. But damn, man, not enough to make it past the first impression of the censor in my head. Black humor is one thing, but this is like kicking someone when they’re not looking and they’ve got a fake leg, anyhow. It’s not funny, it’s just stupid. Dude, I thought you actually cared about people. That you had some amount of empathy. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/159 "2008-11-29T06:25:37Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I must admit, this was my first reaction too. I could very easily be an SNL script. Maybe even it already was. > > Then I thought about it being a real person, dead, and I was sad - kinda sorta. \*\*Wal-Mart Greeter Killed in Black Friday Stampede \*\* Where they cows? 😛 Oh, right, they were “people”. 😃 😃 :rolleyes: That was my thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811/160 "2008-11-29T06:59:40Z")
From the NY Daily Times - > [@](#): > > They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. > > “They took me down, too … I didn’t know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back,” Overby said. > > Damour, a temporary maintenance worker from Jamaica, Queens, was gasping for air as shoppers continued to surge into the store after its 5 a.m. opening, witnesses said. > > Even officers who arrived to perform CPR on the trampled worker were stepped on by wild-eyed shoppers streaming inside, a cop at the scene said. > > “They pushed him down and walked all over him,” Damour’s sobbing sister, Danielle, 41, said. "How could these people do that? > > “He was such a young man with a good heart, full of life. He didn’t deserve that.” > > Damour’s sister said doctors told the family he died of a heart attack. > > His cousin, Ernst Damour, called the circumstances “completely unacceptable.” > > “His body was a stepping bag with so much disregard for human life,” Ernst Damour, 37, said. “There has to be some accountability.” > > Roughly 2,000 people gathered outside the Wal-Mart’s doors in the predawn darkness. > > Chanting “push the doors in,” the crowd pressed against the glass as the clock ticked down to the 5 a.m. opening. > > Sensing catastrophe, nervous employees formed a human chain inside the entrance to slow down the mass of shoppers. > > It didn’t work. > > The mob barreled in and overwhelmed workers. > > “They were jumping over the barricades and breaking down the door,” said Pat Alexander, 53, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. “Everyone was screaming. You just had to keep walking on your toes to keep from falling over.” > > After the throng toppled Damour, his fellow employees had to fight through the crowd to help him, police said. > > Witness Kimberly Cribbs said shoppers acted like “savages.” > > “When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since Friday morning!’” Cribbs said. "They kept shopping [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-greeter-killed-in-black-friday-stampede/474811.md?page=9)