Who is Most to Blame for the Walmart Trampling Incident?

Hmm. No "All of the Above" option? Sure Walmart could have done something to line-up the crowd outside. Oh and was it really wise to call it a "doorbuster" sale?? Shoppers could have had more common courtesy for others and avoided the pushing and shoving (save that for the turkey left overs). And even if "America runs on Dunkin" the security company should have been at the Walmart store practicing crowd control instead of doughnut dunking. And then back to the shoppers . . . to those who refused to leave the store afterward . . . Waiting in line for 8 hours does not justify 'KILLING' the shopkeeper with your feet. Put the merchandise down and leave the store as you were asked. Maybe next year, you'll encourage your mob-mates to behave more responsibily so you won't have to walk away empty handed again. Well we can hope anyway.

80% the hooligan shoppers, but Walmart* mgmt, security, marketing should assume some responsibility too. Hopefully this will lead to this stupid (and now deadly) marketing gimmick.

(finishing thought) marketing gimmick disappearing.

Vent, Vent... we all know that everything plays a part in, well, everything... that said, ultimately, it comes down to the individual(s) who seemed to care less, that there was someone underfoot.

Are the authorities going to "use the footage" unlikely, as it would simply stem to, "I was pushed" or "I had thick boots on and thought Jdimytai Damour was a door jam" or, yada, yada. So many excuses, jury, judge, who's gunna tie it up in court, mess up the evidence, "why are you ruining our holiday" etc.

that should cover all of them at once, Brian.

George W. Bush is responsible. My jaw dropped after 9/11 when he addressed his nation and told the good people of the USA that if they want to "help America" get back on its feet again they should get out and shop. So, you could say that these people were enthusiastic about "helping America".

This is a systemic problem where economic health measures revolve around consumer spending and continual (unsustainable) growth is sought by every corporation.

Materialism sucks.

Wal-Mart is 100% responsible here. There the ones building up the black friday craziness. They purposely whip up a frenzy to make it an EVENT to sell goods. They know they're building up people to a frenzy and they should be held responsible for not taking the proper precautions to allow for safety. They should not be putting blood in the water then blaming the sharks when someone gets bit?

George dubwa Bush. People are inevitably stupid, you cant blame them completely for being stupid. If you trap a bunch of mice in a box (with depleting resources and rising populations), over time they will eventually eat each other. If our economy gets worse, you will most definitely hear about more like this.

George Bush.

Barack Obama. If he had only urged a boycott of Wal Mart this could have been avoided.

It's the peoples fault no matter how you slice it. People need to take responsibility for their own actions. Just because a company holds a fire sale does not mean they give consumers the OK to trample each other to death. If I'm late to a meeting and drive 120mph then run over someone I won't blame the people holding the meeting.

Of course lawyers will want to blame Walmart, the police, and private security. They would probably blame the employee that dies as well for trying to stand in front of the stampede. The truth of the matter is Walmart could have hired the US Army to guard the doors and only let two people at a time in the store. Whats to stop the mob from storming the doors anyway?

I just can't believe that people seem to believe that just because Walmart holds a sale which benefits the people and that they are somehow to blame because people can't control themselves. Thats like a rapist getting away with his crime because he was drunk or saying the woman was dressed provocatively so she was asking for it. :-/

I agree with "All of the Above"....all entities have mutual responsibility in this disaster...Wal-Mart should have had a manager who is a more experienced person with these crowds to open the door, not a temporary employee.

They should have shoveled out more money for security and the security company should have a better game plan when it came to opening the doors. Sure they had crowd control for the line outside when the doors were closed, but why is it no body bothered to step back and think big picture of what was going to happen when the doors opened.

Hello, if you know people are psycho enough to stand in line in the freezing cold for eight hours just to get in the store. You better believe they don't give a damn about who they trample on to get what they want. If Wal-Mart was smart, they would have solicited the a local High School football team's Offensive and Defensive lines to come out in full pads and "hold the line" so to speak. Then take it a step further and get off-duty police in full riot gear as referees right behind them.

As an event planner I hire 1 off-duty officer and 4 marines for every 100 people anticipated for any concert or show I do. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that the natives are gonna get restless anytime you do an event like this!

Some of you folks need to think before you start typing away. Walmart security couldn't have done much anyway, store security in most cases aren't even allowed to touch a customer much less stop a small mob/riot.

This was all 100% mob customers fault. They should have locked the doors behind them and when the cops showed up, arrest every single one of them. If you didn't see what was happening and walk away, then you are a part of it. For gods sake, these animals continued to shop and attempted to refuse to leave when the cops shut the store down afterwards. Absolutely disgusting.

The store can only ensure so much security.

I don't shop at Walmart because of the "class" of people it attracts. Case in point - a rampage for a sale? A killing for a toy?. Of course. I generally do not go to stores because it seems most people fall into this category - subhuman animals.
Who's to blame? A degrading society that absolves individuals from personal responsibility, lawyers who encourage such inhumanity, lawmakers who support such lack of common sense?
No question, the individuals are ultimately responsible. Walmart just threw a bone to the dogs.

Savages the shoppers, that day, were described at in Long Island.
Every person for themselves without respect to fellow Americans whatsoever. When America ceases TO BE GOOD it will cease to be great.

The shoppers, no doubt. They're the savages that knocked down the doors and injured/killed to save like... one or two dollars. I understand today's economy sucks, but the chaos that occurred is crossing the line.

2,000 people in a not so good neighborhood at 5AM in the morning. A temporary employee opens two doors to let the throngs of people in. Do you need a masters degree to figure this out? the police are on record saying there was not enough security on hand. Walmart is gonna pay for this one.

There is no excuse for lack of common sense. Being in a crowd does not lessen your responsibility to use your brain. The moment somebody falls on the ground people should have helped out that person. Unfortunately, the people do not want to assume the responsibility for their own actions, blaming everybody else around including media, security, and management.
I do not care what excuses people have - it was pure ignorance for anybody to disregard a person fallen to the ground and not to help them, or react in any way to the trampling.
It is safe to assume that majority of people have a brain and it is my hope that most of them know how to use it properly despite all the tragedies that have taken place recently. Our capacity to think comes with a responsibility so for all of you that do not want to utilize your brain how about you shoot yourself in your fucked up heads (turning perhaps your brain cells into an intricate piece of art) or at least donate that little bit of your gray matter that you have to some useful medical research* !!!
* - applies to irresponsible idiots and other species of ignorants as well (mentally disabled excluded)

F@$k all of the people that did this. Does anyone have the balls to stop everyone else. How can a person f@$king walk over a person and be okay with that. I hope all those f@$king people burn in hell.

This is the same neighbourhood where a bunch of teenagers shot up a movie theatre full of people in 1990. Seems most of the people living in that area are either criminals or brain-dead. Is it something in the water...? Something in their genes? Something in their cultures, (or lack of decent culture)? Whatever the case may be there is a bad element there that has persisted for two decades because the people there put up with it and allow it to perpetuate. This guy lost his life because of their laziness, irresponsibility, selfishness and lack of moral conscience.

No surveillance footage should not stall the investigation. The store was closed soon after the incident for the day. They could track any purchase made with a credit card before the store closed and question that person about what they saw. I am sure that nothing in that crowd could have stopped them from getting their 4.99 copies of Die Hard 3...

Walmart failed on this one. They should have implemented a ticket sale process where tickets for "doorbuster" items people want are distributed to those in line in an orderly fashion. Customers who lined up early and got the ticket then only have to go a window in the store to claim their item and pay. I remember some stores implementing this in the past for midnight sales like the PS3.

This isn't the running of the bulls and as much as Walmart wanted the imagery of people running around the store in anticipation of the holiday season for good PR purposes, they're got exactly the opposite and now have to deal with the fallout.

It was deffintley those stupid shoppers b/c i mean who is so desprit to get into a dang walmart when u can go any time!!! Stupid People!!

How many decades has there been black Fridays?? and some idiots blame the new kids on the block like Bush, or Walmart. When research proves that people living in big cities like animals packed into a small area, whether the area is called a rats cage, penthouse or appartment become less considerate of others, and act more like animals.
Notice that although this same black friday happened all over the U.S. only one store in a big city experienced any problem. In my rural Wal Mart, everyone lined up without pushing or shoving, when the door was opened, we all walked calmly into the store.

Anyone going to express condolences to the family?

I for one would probably not be able to live with myself if i was even in the parkinglot when this happened. I agree people are stupid, but. When you are in a large mob of people you stop being a person and start being part of the group. Mob Mentality had been demonstrated several times in the recent past. So Wall mart is the biggest to blame as this should have been at least a concern.

"How are all the shoppers going to get to the sales with the doors being so small?". I know this thought had crossed some owner/managers mind at least once during the ramp up to the sale.

Sometimes you have to protect the cattle from themself.

I think that society is to blame, what is the rush anyway to save a few dollars