Police seek shoppers who trampled store worker to death

Police in the US are scouring surveillance video of a post-Thanksgiving stampede in a bid to identify bargain-obsessed shoppers who trampled a Wal-Mart worker to death - then refused to leave the store.

But they admitted that it may be hard to bring criminal charges.

Nassau County police and Wal-Mart Stores said no new information was available on Friday’s brutal incident, which shocked shoppers even as they flocked to the Long Island store a day later.

“It felt a little freakish,” customer Ellie Berhun, 48, told the Daily News. “Some man lost his life because a VCR was on sale? Please. It’s just too sad for words.”

Police said the temporary worker, Jdimytai Damour, was mowed down as about 2,000 bargain-hunters surged through the store’s doors at the Black Friday 5am opening.

Other workers were knocked to the ground as they tried to rescue Mr Damour, but customers simply stepped over him and kept shopping even as the store announced it was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospital for observation or treatment for minor injuries. The store, about 20 miles east of Manhattan, closed for several hours.

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because it has traditionally marked the point when a throng of shoppers pushes stores into profitability for the year.

Wal-Mart said it added staffers and outside security workers and put up barricades to try to prepare for the crush. But police spokesman Detective Lt Michael Fleming said security was inadequate for a scene he called “utter chaos”.

Criminal charges are possible, but identifying anyone in the store’s videos may prove difficult, he said.

Mr Damour, 34, from the Queens district of New York, came from an employment agency and was doing maintenance work at the store, Wal-Mart said.