Problem: Trampled to Death
Despite his 6'5," 270-pound frame, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was no match for the unruly crowd of an estimated 2,000 Black Friday, 2008 shoppers at a Long Island, New York, Walmart. The crowd, some of whom had been waiting for many hours, pushed against the double glass doors. Damour, a worker of one week hired through a temporary agency, and 6 to 10 other Walmart employees pushed back from the inside, but at 4:55 AM the doors bowed in and the shoppers surged through crushing Damour to his death and injuring others. Damour had no experience with crowd control and reportedly had not been trained for that purpose. Crowd control barriers were not employed and security personnel reportedly were inside the store rather than being outside to monitor and manage the crowd. Police had been on the scene for 30 minutes at 3 AM, but the crowd of 400 at the time was orderly and the police left. Walmart argued that it had taken appropriate and sufficient safety measures, but authorities subsequently questioned those measures and compared them unfavorably with other retailers' approaches.
Without admitting guilt, Walmart avoided criminal charges by agreeing to pay $400,000 into a victims' compensation fund, along with $1.5 million to local social services causes. Walmart also agreed to build improved holiday crowd management plans for all of its New York stores. (Changes also were to be implemented nationwide on a store-by-store basis.) The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA; see Chapter 12) imposed a $7,000 fine for failing to maintain a safe workplace; Walmart lost its appeal of the OSHA fine. Damour's family sued Nassau County officials and Walmart. To avoid criminal prosecution in Nassau County, Walmart agreed to improve its Black Friday crowd control, donate approximately $1.2 million to local community programs, and create a $400,000 victims' compensation fund. Sources: Steve Greenhouse, "Judge Upholds $7,000 Fine in Trampling at Walmart," The New York Times, March 25, 2011 [www.nytimes.com]; "Walmart Settles Trampling Case," The New York Times, May 6, 2009 [www.nytimes.com]; Associated Press, "Wal-Mart Worker Trampled to Death Lacked Training, Attorney Says," Fox News.com, December 1, 2008; Robert D. McFadden and Angela Macropoulos, "Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death," The New York Times, November 29, 2008; and Associated Press, "Wal-Mart Fights $7,000 Fine in Black Friday Death," USA TODAY, July 8, 2010.
Questions
1. a. Who bears the blame for Damour's death? Explain.
b. How do we decide where blame lies?
2. a. Were the shoppers guilty of criminal behavior? Explain.
b. Immoral behavior? Explain.
3. Did Walmart fail to fulfill its responsibilities to its employees and customers? Explain.
4. Do you think the OSHA fine and Walmart's donations to community programs, victims' compensation fund, and improved crowd control plans achieved justice? Explain.