Family of NY Man Trampled by Shoppers Sue Wal-Mart

"Those hundreds of people who did make their way into the store, literally had to step over or around him or unfortunately on him to get into the Wal-Mart store," Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said this week.

Nassau County Police examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., Friday, Nov. 28,...

Nassau County Police examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., Friday, Nov. 28, 2008, after a temporary Wal-Mart worker died after a throng of unruly shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him moments after the Long Island store opened early Friday for day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, police said.

(Ed Betz/AP Photo )
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Police are reviewing store video to identify possible suspects in Damour's death, but Mulvey conceded that criminal charges are unlikely.

Mulvey said it was apparent to him that the Wal-Mart store about 20 miles east of Manhattan lacked adequate security to handle the crowds. He said police representatives met with retailers throughout the county two weeks before Thanksgiving and made it clear that security and crowd control for the sales were the merchants' responsibilities.

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Hecht said Damour's family also plans to file lawsuits against Nassau County and its police department.

County Attorney Lorna Goodman said, "The county has no liability in situations of this kind."

The lawsuit against Wal-Mart and the other companies was filed Wednesday in state Supreme Court in the Bronx, the home of one of the victim's sisters, Elsie Damour Phillipe, the court-appointed administrator of his estate. It does not seek specific damages.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it historically has been the day stores broke into profitability for the full year.

The National Retail Federation believes Damour is the first store worker to die on the job in the post-Thanksgiving rush.

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