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Dec 1, 2008 11:29 pm US/Eastern
Top Cop: Wal-Mart May Be To Blame For Worker Death
Nassau Detective: Investigation Focusing On Individuals In Crowd And Badly Thought Out Security Protocols
ME Confirms: 34-Year-Old Man Died Of Asphyxiation
Reporting
Lou Young
MINEOLA (CBS) ―
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In this still taken from cell phone video, a store employee lies unconscious on the floor of a New York City Wal-Mart after being trampled by a throng of Black Friday shoppers on Nov. 28, 2009. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital.
CBS
A top Nassau County police official called it a recipe for disaster.
Wal-Mart advertised the sale, announced supplies were limited and then -- he says -- did little to control the surge of people as they funneled through a single door.
Cops also said. everyone who got into the Valley Stream Wal-Mart when it opened on Friday morning stepped over, around or on Jdimytai Damour.
The medical examiner lists the cause of death to the temp employee as asphyxiation as the result of trampling. In other words, the crowd killed him. But is the crowd primarily responsible? Or does the store bear the brunt of the responsibility?
Nassau County Det. Lt. Michael Fleming said it looks like Wal-Mart made a fatal error here.
"It is clear at this juncture with the investigation still going that in my assessment and our assessment there were not adequate protocols in place," Fleming said.
Right now the primary evidence is the surveillance videos provided by Wal-Mart. They show the crowd surging forward with no one outside the store to organize the opening.
The police said their investigation will attempt to identify individuals in the crowd who might have acted recklessly, as well as the store's own security protocols. The first set of charges will be tougher to bring – CBS 2 HD was told -- but the second set, involving Wal-Mart, are part of the business' responsibility for an event like this.
"This kind of thing goes on all the time. Whenever there's a big movie release there's lines around the block; never had an incident. When Apple comes out or Xbox comes out you have tremendous public interest," Fleming said. "But if you look at the way those sales are structured and the protocols in place, you don't have these types of incidents. The flaw here, I think we'll see when we're done, comes down to the planning and execution of the sales event."
Fleming also said it appears the victim was sent to the front door of the Wal-Mart because of his size -- he was 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds -- but police said he wasn't trained for security work.
There was no reaction from Wal-Mart on Monday.
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