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Supermarket worker's horror death as he's trampled to death in Black Friday sale

As many geared up for the biggest day on the shopping calendar, others remembered the tragedy that saw an innocent supermarket employee lose his life to greedy shoppers

[Shoppers walk along London's most famous shopping Street, Oxford Street, on black Friday in London, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. ]

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Shopper's greed resulted in the death of a supermarket employee (Image: AP)

When a 34-year-old lost his job as a customer service representative and decided to take up a temporary role as a seasonal supermarket employee he never expected he would lose his life at work.

Jdimytai Damour was hoping to make enough money to pay his bills and save some extra to pay for his schooling during his time at Walmart in Green Acres Mall, Valley Stream, New York. Instead, whilst at work on Black Friday in 2008, he was trampled to death by chaotic shoppers, greedy for discounted items.

A crowd of over 2,000 people stampeded into the Wal-Mart at the mall at the crack of dawn, 5am, knocking down Damour in the process. The rowdy crowd proceeded to step on him, killing him in an agonising way. At the time of these horrific events, Fresh Meadows resident Ogera Charles, and father of Damour, said: "There is nothing left to say. All the words I have cannot bring him back. Nothing can bring him back."

[A 1993 Freeport High School photo of Jdimytai Damour, the 34-year-old Walmart employee who was trampled to death on black Friday at Walmart in Valley Stream, LI.]

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Jdimytai Damour was just 34 when he was trampled to death(Image: Handout)

Before his death, Damour was a Freeport High School graduate, with a love for reading and fantastic poetry skills. It was this that led him to want to become a teacher, his father shared, and according to him, he was always a "good boy", the New York Post reports. According to police, other employees were also stepped on by shoppers as others were gasping for air due to the sheer amount of people. Four shoppers in total were injured, one of which was a woman who was eight months pregnant.

Damour was quickly rushed to hospital after the fatal events and pronounced dead just an hour later at 6:03 am. Autopsy results later revealed that Damours cause of death was put down to asphyxiation, caused by the pressure on his chest from being stepped on by ruthless shoppers.

Due to the chaos of the Black Friday event, the police claimed that Walmart did not have an adequate number of security in place to manage the crowd that gathered in the store. Reports have shared the major supermarket's press release that followed the tragic death.

[Shoppers browse through stores at Mall of America for Black Friday deals, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Bloomington, Minn. ]

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Black Friday takes place on the last Friday of November (Image: AP)

It said: "We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third-party security and additional store associates, and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred."

The state's largest grocery workers union, known as United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, called for an investigation into Damour's death by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. At the time, President Bruce Both elaborated further, stating: "This incident was avoidable."

He claimed: "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barrelling down on the store in such an unsafe manner? This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility."

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