'Black Friday' has truly lived up to its name this year. Reports of injury are still coming in five days later. It's no mystery why, either: crowds of thousands mobbed their local stores seeking out holiday bargains, and in the uncontrolled crowds and the rush to get to those five remaining big screen TVs and video games, people got hurt. Sadly, this year, people died too.

Mr. Jdimytai Damour, a temporary holiday employee at Wal-Mart was one of a few employees who tried to hold back an unruly mob that had waited for hours for the store to open at 5 am. When the doors shattered from the pressure of the crowd, people rushed in without any thought to the workers trying to control them. Mr. Damour and a few other workers were thrown to the ground in the stampede. While some of his coworkers tried to reach him to help, people continued to rush in to the store, crushing Mr. Damour. His injuries were fatal.

We are simply appalled by this story. Appalled that there wasn't more security at the store. Appalled at Wal-Mart for not doing more to stop this. Appalled that the cops seemed to have left right before the opening despite a seemingly uncontrolled crowd. Appalled that the customers broke down the door. Appalled that people could continue shopping after having so callously stampeding over Wal-Mart employees, and that our consumerist culture has encouraged something like this to happen. Appalled that Mr. Damour's family has to suffer so during the holidays. Appalled that this could happen. This was preventable.

Bruce Both, President of a local union, was right when he said, "This incident was avoidable. Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?"

Here's our official statement on the tragic incident:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 2, 2008

STATEMENT FROM WAKEUPWALMART.COM ON THE TRAGIC DEATH OF JDIMYTAI DAMOUR

On November 29th, 2008 at a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, New York, Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker, was killed in a crush of Black Friday shoppers.

The following statement is attributed to Meghan Scott, Spokesperson for WakeUpWalMart.com.

"While this is not the time for pointing fingers, it is critical that we examine what caused this tragedy, and how we prevent more families from suffering such a loss. It appears that Mr. Damour's senseless death resulted from Wal-Mart's negligence and need for huge sales on Black Friday.

"The retail giant had a responsibility to ensure its workers were safe, but instead, Wal-Mart once again placed profit ahead of people. This is an incredibly sad and extreme example of Wal-Mart's ongoing mistreatment of the people who work in the stores. From poverty-level wages to healthcare that is priced out of reach, to 1.6 million women forced to sue for equal pay, America's largest private employer continues to fail its workers at the holidays and throughout the year. Wal-Mart's low prices should not come at such a high cost to the people who work in the stores. Last Friday, Mr. Damour paid the ultimate price."