Wal-Mart death

By dawn on Nov. 28, 2008, 

the day after American Thanksgiving, 

there were 2,000 shoppers outside the Wal-Mart 

in Valley Stream, Long Island. 

And they were hungry for bargains 

on digital cameras and microwaves ovens. 

Jdimytai Damour 

was a maintenance worker; 

it wasn’t his job to deal with customers, 

but he was a big guy

so the boss asked him to help with the crowd.

He was about to open the door

when the crowd pushed again

and the glass doors shattered.

The shoppers broke through,

twisting the metal frame

and knocking him down.

They stampeded over him into the store.

Each person who got into that store

had to pass him as he lay on the floor

gasping.

Some people walked on him.

His co-workers tried to pull him out of the way

but the crowd knocked them down too.

The shoppers didn’t know what happened

to the guy in the hall until two hours later

when the store manager announced over the PA,

“One of our employees has been

killed.

We are going to close the store.”

But they wouldn’t leave.

One shopper said, “I stood in line for six hours

– I’m not leaving until I get my shopping done.”

Jdimytai was 34.

He liked to talk about politics and movies.

He wore his hair in dreadlocks.

He’d been on the job a week.

He was earning minimum wage.