The cop is not in the correct position to do compressions, but perhaps he has back or hip or knee issues that preclude that. I also note that none of the rescue team seems to be helping him. They may not be giving him mouth to mouth, but they did begin bagging the victim with an ambu bag. I have no idea why there was a delay of getting the ambu on to him(I cannot tell if someone was bagging him all along–the video is too jumpy), but like all emergencies, things are chaotic and fragmented and rushed. The mouth to mouth comment came after the rescue team was bagging him and displays the commentator’s ignorance of basic rescue.
But who do you blame? The people in the front had to move or risk ending up like the victim. The people a few rows back in the crowd couldn’t have possible known what was happening. Wal-Mart created a dangerous situation by allowing the crowd to rush in to snatch their cheap DVD players and the not-so-unthinkable occured. If they had exercised any kind of crowd control beyond “close the doors then open the doors” this man would still be alive.
And regarding the “how can the cops be everywhere at once” question, it’s simple. If you can provide adequate security for this kind of event, you have it. If you can’t, you call it off.
With all of these Black Friday “blitz” events going on all over the country, this was bound to happen somewhere. Wal-Mart gets to pay the price for all retailers, and hopefully it will be significant enough to make sure this doesn’t happen again next year. I’m no lawyer, but this sounds exactly like involuntary manslaughter to me: a wanton disregard for the known dangers of a particular situation. Like throwing rocks off an overpass onto cars below. I hope Wal-Mart pays, and pays big.
I know all that. The poor fellow did not deserve such a pointless fate, may the grief and troubles of his loved ones be small. But, it doesn’t matter. Look, it’s this simple:
Fatal terrorist attack: Not funny.
Fatal rock-concert stampede: Almost funny.
Fatal discount-store stampede: Ipso facto funny. Just because it’s so absurd.
This is a tragedy. But “don’t bum rush the locked doors” should be all the crowd control that’s needed. Someone should have been outside handing out tickets to the linegoers, but breaking down the door could not have been expected by anybody.
I saw a report that there were 2,000 people in this crowd. Is it known that the crowd broke down the doors because they were in a mad rush for DVD players, or was it at least partially because they wanted to relieve the pressure of 2,000 people squashing in behind them?
Very large crowds like that can be dangerous precisely because the people at the back don’t realize what’s going on at the front, and people at the front or the middle lose the ability to move around or get out of the crush. That’s why, if you expect to have thousands of people forming a crowd outside your doors, you need to implement effective crowd control.
Indeed. Instead of discouraging bum rushing, they’re all but encouraging it by calling their fucking queue a “blitz line”. I mean, are they trying to get everyone in the mindset of an offensive linesman looking to get 6 yards for the first down? What the fuck.
I guess they figured that people would be able to use their brains and interpret blitz line to mean “line of people that are all heading to same item in store”.
We should try to find as many ways as possible to blame this on WalMart. “What the fuck were they THINKING when they used RED to write the word BLITZ?!?! Don’t they know that RED means ATTACKKILLDEATHTRAMPLE!!??!?” “What the FUCK were they THINKING telling people exactly what was on sale on BF? Don’t they know people will get in line in the middle of the night and ATTACKKILLDEATHTRAMPLE any motherfucker who get’s in between them and their $5 South Pole sweatshirts??!?”
Not mine. I was appalled. This wouldn’t be funny even if the man was not hurt at all. That people will act like complete idiots to save a little bit of cash on crap tat they most likely don’t need is disgusting. Especially since as I said before this shit will be on sale next week and the week afer and on til Xmas. Then it’ll be on sale uo through January in the “Its all gotta Go! Clearance Mega Sale!”.
I seriously don’t understand how you can find this man’s death humorous. He was killed by a bunch of brain dead shopping zombies at a fucking Wal-Mart. Just before Christmas. I doubt his family will have a good time this holiday season.
Are you even reading the same posts we are, Cubsfan? The ones from the various WalMart employees, or family of WalMart employees? Where they say that the way that these items are dealt with is that it’s first come, first served, and anyone at the merchandise can take as much as they want.
If you believe this to be inaccurate, fine - give us some counter-examples. Until that time, however, it sure sounds like a pretty Darwinian weeding process - encouraging aggression, ruthlessness, and determination above all other concerns. In this case, WalMart’s employee has reaped the whirlwind that they sowed. It’s a multi-year process, but by refusing to take pro-active action in crowd control, or even to encourage some decorum amongst their customers, I do believe that WalMart has fostered an environment where this sort of event was inevitable.
I don’t go shopping on Black Friday. This year I had to work (new job, no time off yet), but I don’t go shopping except for groceries, even when I do have the day off work.
In fact, at this time of year, I follow the Steelers schedule closely. I’m not a football fan, but there are fewer crowds at Target and Costco when the Steelers are playing. So I like the Steelers.
I’d certainly make a point of doing more of my shopping at a store that did that.
Even with being American and understanding the rush, I still don’t think you can really connect people being assholes with Christmas. Again, people are always assholes, Christmas just gives them more motivators.
I don’t like consumerism and commercialism either, which is why Leo gets no toys from us this year, but why is this stampede any more despicable then, say, the stadium disaster at Brussles? Because people were rushing to buy stuff and that’s what we are really mad at this week?