There are a few reasons why I stay away from stores on Black Friday. Sure you can get some outstanding deals on computers, plazma TVs and other stuff if you want to wait in line 4 hours before the stores even open. The dark side to Black Friday is that the crowds waiting to get into the store are like hungry animals that haven’t been fed in a year. Stores all across America were staffed up for the thousands of door busting customers waiting for their chance at a once a year deal.

News of these rabid shoppers was all over the local news and it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt. Thankfully it wasn’t in Claycord but on the other side of the US in New York where a Walmart employee was trampled to death by a wave of people that couldn’t act like civilized human beings.

Also caught in that chaos at the Valley Stream, N.Y., store: a 28-year-old pregnant woman and at least three other shoppers who suffered minor injuries.

According to a police statement, the death happened at 5:03 a.m., minutes after Wal-Marts across the country opened their doors to the holiday rush.

The employee, a 34-year-old man, suffered “an undetermined death” when a “throng of shoppers … physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground,” according to the statement. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital at 6:03 a.m.

Wal-Mart was tight-lipped about the accident, saying in a statement that its officials are still working with Nassau County Police. The statement called the situation “tragic,” added that the employee was working for a temporary agency and confirmed that several customers were also injured.

At a Best Buy in the Glendale area this morning, frustration and impatience caused several small fights to break out in the crowd before doors opened, according to police officers patrolling the front of the store.

-LA Times

This video was shot by a camera phone on the scene. It is Graphic so do not watch if you are weak hearted.

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