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NEW YORK -- A 34-year-old Walmart worker died Friday morning after "a throng of shoppers . . . physically broke down the doors" and knocked him to the ground as the crowd pushed its way into the store at a Valley Stream mall, Nassau police said.
One police officer told Newsday the prelude to the death at the Green Acres Mall was "a mob scene." The man who died was a temporary, part-time Walmart worker, the officer said.
Shoppers who surged into the store were asked to leave by Walmart workers, some of them crying and visibly upset, said one shopper, Kimberly Cribbs, of Far Rockaway.
Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers' requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit, Cribbs said.
"They kept shopping. It's not right. They're savages," said Cribbs.
She said she entered the store after the worker was already being attended to by emergency personnel. As people waited, then pushed into the store, she said, "It was chaos."
Another shopper said people were screaming and shoving in line before the opening.
The worker was knocked down at 5:03 a.m. at the store, and was taken to Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m.
As of Friday morning the cause of death was described as "undetermined", police said. An exact cause of death will be determined by the county medical examiner's office, police said. The man's name was not immediately made public by the police, and the store was closed.
Asked at a news conference whether the store had enough security given the crowds that Black Friday shopping typically attracts, Det. Lt. Michael Fleming, who is investigating the death, said no.
"This crowd was out of control," Fleming said, characterizing the melee as "utter chaos."
Fleming said an estimated 2,000 people had gathered in line around 5 a.m. as the store was preparing to open.
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