Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers

[rowyn]

What bothers me most about this story is the section at the end. Where the police talk about pressing charges against Wal-Mart for not hiring more security, and Wal-Mart faults the police for not having more patrols out.

...

Shouldn't someone be blaming the people that actually trampled this poor man to death? The ones who tore the doors of the hinges? The ones who stomped on him, ignored him, didn't try to help him up, shoved the people in front of them so that they would have no choice but to rush forward heedlessly as well?

American need to learn how to queue. :(

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

(1) Mob behavior is predictable, and individuals in the mob are less than entirely in control of their own actions. Not saying you should let them off, but it's kind of like blaming a tiger for eating the person who crawls into its cage. You still kill the tiger, of course.

(2) The people doing the trampling aren't large pools of money for lawsuits to leech from, so it isn't interesting which of THEM is to blame.

[rowyn]

The people doing the trampling aren't large pools of money for lawsuits to leech from, so it isn't interesting which of THEM is to blame.

Part of what bugs me is that it was the police who "did not rule out criminal charges in the case". Criminal charges, not a civil suit. I'm used to private attorneys looking for the deep pockets to sue, but I still hold out hope for better from our government. :( But I guess they haven't fined or arrested anyone for working at Wal-Mart yet, so maybe they won't actually do it. Or maybe they'll have a stronger case than "You didn't take proper precautions for holding a sale". O_o I don't mean to take one newspaper article as the beginning and end of what there is to know about the case. :/