Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has for decades been recognized as the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. In the last several years however, the excitement has come at the cost of one death and close to a dozen others injured in "stampede" type rushes for mass discounts and loss leader sales. This past Black Friday, a 32-year-old Tennessee woman suffered a fractured leg after a stampede when the doors opened at midnight at a Toys "R" Us store. The woman had been standing in line since 8 p.m. Thanksgiving evening outside of the store until it opened at midnight. Authorities estimated about 100 people were crowded outside the store before it opened. When the doors opened, a standoff occurred between those standing in line and group of line-cutters. The woman ultimately suffered a fractured leg in the rush to get inside the store.
While many stores hired extra security to monitor Black Friday lines and keep crowds under control, this particular Toys "R" Us, located on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard in Clarksville, Tennessee, did not. This is not the first incident involving injury during a Black Friday sale, and it is unfortunate that Toys "R" Us did not hire extra security to manage crowds that could have prevented the woman's injuries.
Last year, on November 28, 2008, a greeter at Wal-Mart was killed during a stampede of more than 2,000 people when doors opened at a store in Valley Stream, New York. Eleven others were injured, including a pregnant woman. The police report released in late December 2008 suggested that Wal-Mart could have prevented the woman's death and other shoppers' injuries with better crowd control preparations. Police said in such situations they would respond and provide assistance when needed, "but the responsibility for the security and control of these sales events rests with the store. Store administrators should never market a sales event without having a plan, and the proper resources to manage it."
The family of the Wal-Mart greeter filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Wal-Mart five days after the accident occurred. A settlement of nearly $2 million dollars was reached in May, 2009. The 2008 incident at Wal-Mart put retail stores nationwide on notice that preventative measures should be taken for managing crowds at similar Black Friday events. Unfortunately, it did not stop someone else getting injured in 2009.
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