(If you're a Three Stooges fan you know what I mean.)
Posted on 11/25/2005 2:30:39 PM PST by Shermy
It was a dangerous morning on Black Friday at a West Michigan Wal-Mart.
An impatient crowd stormed the doors in the mad rush to get to those door-buster deals inside.
It was an ugly scene when the doors opened at the Cascade Township Wal-Mart. Hundreds of shoppers pushed and shoved their way into the store, trampling a number of customers, sending two to the hospital.
At 5:00 a.m. the doors opened, holiday shoppers rushed in, and immediately one customer is pushed to the ground.
"This is ridiculous. I do not want my life in danger for this," said shopper Karen Dietstra. "This is not worth it. This has been a tradition for years. I don't think that I have to get beat up to try to get a sale."
Two shoppers from Grand Rapids did. One of them, 13-year-old Deja McHerron, had to be taken away by ambulance.
"They stumbled over a pregnant lady and Deja was trying to help her get up. And they stumbled over her and they stepped on her back. And now she's going to the hospital," said McHerron's mother, Deborah.
Duretha Arnold-Youngblood, 37, was also taken to the hospital, complaining of an injured knee. Her husband, Johnny Youngblood, took issue with what he calls a lack of security. Youngblood believes Wal-Mart should hire trained uniformed security guards to help bring order to the early-morning holiday crowd and not leave those duties to Wal-Mart associates.
"They didn't have no security at all," said McHerron's sister, Sierra.
"Wal-Mart did not do enough to protect us," Dietstra said.
What went wrong? Managers at the Cascade Wal-Mart are not commenting at this time.
24 Hour News 8 phoned Wal-Mart's corporate offices seeking an answer, but nobody has returned our call.
Calling Geoffrey Fieger. Calling Geoffrey Fieger. Frivolous lawsuit in aisle #6.
There'll be a similar story from Los Altos, CA in tomorrow's papers too. jiggygirl reports that a lady got trampled and had to be taken out in an ambulance, others in another part of the store were taken out in handcuffs, people were jumping over counters to get to merchandise, etc. At one point there were at least 15 additional city police in the place trying to restore order, clean up the bloody people, etc.
that is why I live on the coast. Spend a little more, make a little less, avoid the savages of the cities.
There is a segment of Terry Southern's The Magic Christian that has a wealthy instigator opening stores that are "going out of business" so as to induce panic buying.
I don't think it was portrayed as a "scam" (he could afford to take the loss) as much as it was one of a number of stunts he would do to measures people's greed.
I've only seen the film version (staring Peter Sellers) and it ends with people diving into a tank containing human waste/sewage to retreive cash.
I'm pretty sure that it WAS Bush who pushed that poor old woman to the ground...but i saw it on CNN...hard to tell if it was him or someone else...that X on his face really didnt help either i guess...who knows, i could be wrong.
FIRST IN LINE>>>YAY, I WAS FIRST IN LINE!!!!...to the emergency room
Bush's Fault
This is not much different than the morning rush hour drive, except people have 2000lbs of metal in front of them instead of a shopping cart, driving 70 miles an hour inches away from the rear bumper of the person in front of them, yelling for them to go faster or get out of the way.
"Greedy" doesn't begin to describe the state of society today. People are just in too much of a hurry, expect things instantly, hate waiting. I have never seen so many grumpy looking, unhappy, impatient people shopping as I did this morning.
Would they dare?: "Ironically, the improved economy means that more customers have more money to spend this holiday season [they won't say Christmas] than last year, which could explain the higher number of these kind of incidents than last year..."
"If people behaved themselves there wouldn't be any need for security."
Good point. I wonder why the headline is never "Acting like animals, shoppers trample each other and then blame others."
Local Shoppers Injured During Mob-Like Behavior - Black Friday Deals Turn Ugly
The 'Lady' with the wig is setting herself up for some kind of suit. No matter she was there on her own accord, obviously obese and unable to cope with the situation and placed herself in harms way. I say give her a TV set and good riddance.
it's wal-mart's fault that morons are running over people?
somehow I am not surprised....
never again for me. I went through the same thing out here in Los Angeles about 3 years ago, in a local electronics store (FRYS)with the mob craziness. folks goin crazy just to save a hundred bucks on a DVD player.
(If you're a Three Stooges fan you know what I mean.)
The last couple years I've done most of my shopping online. Of course, living 30 miles from any shopping centers helps.
It's proof that evolution is a failed theory. De-volution is clearly evident, people turn into animals.
One word comes to mind;
Bloodsport
Well it is reckless of the store to announce "we have 5 veeblefitzers at only 30% of the retail price!"
Might as well throw open the doors to the store saying that "at the back of the building on random shelves are bundles of $20 bills. Good luck!"
A "lottery" to buy merchandise at a reduded price would be illegal.
Bait and switch ads are normally considered a disreputable business practice, EXCEPT at Christmastime.
I mean REALLY. Why do we put up with this? Do shareholders really think that it is a good business plan to "make up" for a year of poor sales with a mad rush in the fourth quarter, selling merchandise at little or no mark up to draw customers into the store?
I stayed in today. And I WON'T be shopping at the major chains until after this "season" is over. I WILL be giving gifts but I won't be setting foot in overcrowded stores and won't be fighting over parking places.
The same thing happened here in Washington State. Honestly, the way people behave just to save a few bucks on material stuff amazes me.
The six figure settlement should surprise no one..
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