No Price Drop Is Worth This
Black Friday has become something of a global phenomenon, though perhaps for all the wrong reasons. While the lesser prices are great for those looking to snag new tech, video games and other on-sale items, the event has become rather infamous for stirring up customers’ dark sides. Across the world, horror stories annually emerge about shoppers getting trampled, violence breaking out, and even worst case scenarios involving people being killed over something as worthless as a TV. Here’s hoping people stay safe this Friday!
#5: Sleep Deprived Father Crashes Car, Daughters Killed (2012)
Palo Alto, California
Black Friday 2012 was blacker than most for the Tandel family. Driving home from shopping and operating on three hours of sleep, Arvind Tandel nodded off just before 7AM, crashing his Lexus SUV and rolling it multiple times. Tandel survived with injuries, as did his wife and two of his daughters; however, daughters Nisha and Sheetal were thrown from the vehicle and killed. Neither had been wearing a seatbelt and all four daughters had been crammed into seating for three as the SUV was packed with their purchases. Meanwhile, a police officer was roadside helping some folks change a tire when the Lexus struck his car, injuring the officer and causing the cruiser to hit one of the motorists, bringing the total to 2 dead, 6 injured and earning Tandel two charges of vehicular manslaughter.
#4: LA Walmart Pepper Spray Incident (2011)
Porter Ranch, California
If you’re going to bargain hunt, come prepared. One 32-year-old woman did just that when she hit up the Porter Ranch Walmart in Los Angeles in 2011. Armed with pepper spray, the shopper let loose on her fellow customers when a crate of videogames was being unwrapped. As many as 20 people were sprayed, and other minor injuries occurred due to the ensuing panic and confusion. Stranger still, amid a crowd fighting for half-off games, Wiis and Xboxes, the woman managed to pay for her purchases and slip out of the store unnoticed, eventually turning herself in a day later. While police didn’t necessarily accept her self-defense claim, they also didn’t have enough evidence to charge her and so she was free to walk and spray again.
#3: Shootout at Toys “R†Us (2008)
Palm Desert, California
You never expect a trip to Toys “R†Us to end in a shootout. Things in Palm Desert, California began around 11:30am when two female customers got into a verbal spat that soon became a physical conflict. When one of the women drew blood, the men they were with drew handguns with one man firing into the air and then at the other man. The two chased each other through the store, with a reported five or six shots fired in the process. When the pair reached the checkout, the showdown ended with both men killing the other. Although the store was packed, no one really knows what set the two couples off, but it was reportedly that it was not the result of competitive shopping.
#2: Stampede Kills Walmart Employee (2008)
Valley Steam, New York
Shortly before a Long Island, NY Walmart was set to open for Black Friday ‘08, customers – lined up in the hopes of scoring deeply discounted flat screen TVs – began hitting, shoulder checking, and pushing at the store’s glass doors. Employees tried to contain the situation but the crowd burst in, taking down seasonal worker Jdimytai “Jimmy†Damour in the process. Hundreds trampled Damour and even pushed through the police and paramedics tending to him. Within an hour, Damour had died, but shoppers were not deterred. Additionally, four other people – including a heavily pregnant woman – were also injured, with police calling the whole situation “utter chaos.†As a result of the tragedy, Walmart promised better crowd control in the future but, as we’ve seen from today’s list, that hasn’t always panned out.
#1: Target Shoppers Let a Man Die (2011)
South Charleston, West Virginia
By all accounts, West Virginian Walter Vance was a well-loved, compassionate man, but that compassion was not returned in Vance’s final moments. A 61-year-old pharmacist with a history of heart problems, Vance ventured out into the excitement of Black Friday 2011 shortly after Target’s midnight opening to buy more Christmas decorations for his store. Sometime soon after, however, Vance collapsed while the herded masses of shoppers not only passed by but stepped over him as he lay dying. An off-duty paramedic was an exception, as was a nurse who attempted to give him CPR, but for everyone else Vance was little more than an obstacle standing in the way of cheap merchandise.
Be sure to check out the video below to see our picks for the Top 5 Black Friday Facts.
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