Wal-Mart guard’s death yields ‘Doorbuster Bill’

It was truly a Black Friday for one Jamaica family.
When more than 2,000 shoppers burst through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart, the crowd trampled and killed 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour. An autopsy revealed on Monday, December 1 that Damour died of asphyxiation rather than a heart attack, which authorities originally thought was the cause of death.
Damour’s sisters hired Manhattan Attorney Jordan Hecht to represent them in a possible lawsuit, and Hecht said that the sisters were devastated to hear the autopsy results.
“The family is very upset,” Hecht said in published reports on Monday. “This was preventable with just the slightest bit of caution.”
Damour, who had been a temporary maintenance worker at the store and had no experience working security, stood with other Wal-Mart workers trying to form a human chain to prevent shoppers from barreling into the store before it was scheduled to open at 5 a.m. on Friday, November 28.
When the massive crowd of shoppers bolted into the stores — sending a slew of workers and shoppers to the floor — Damour laid on the floor as shoppers surged by him rushing to find the hot sales while his fellow co-workers tried to help him. The paramedics arrived shortly after receiving the call and took Damour to Franklin Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead at 6:03 a.m.
In light of the incident, Wal-Mart has come under fire for its security detail at the Long Island store on Black Friday. Hank Mullany, Senior Vice President and President, Northeast Division, Wal-Mart U.S., said the store is continuing to work with Nassau County law enforcement as it conducts its investigation.
“Nothing is more important to us than providing a safe and secure shopping environment for our customers and associates,” Mullany said.
Meanwhile, just two days after the tragedy that made national headlines, Queens City Councilmember James Gennaro announced that he was constructing a “Doorbuster Bill” that would protect shoppers and store staff by requiring appropriate security measures and holding retailers accountable when people are injured.
“The events of this week demand that government steps in to require retailers to take common-sense measures to protect workers and shoppers from the perils of these unsafe free-for-alls.”
Gennaro said that he was still working on specifics of the bill and that would happen after consultation with industry representatives, safety experts and the public.
“What’s important right now is that we recognize that this is a problem and that government has a role in addressing it,” Gennaro said.