Woman Knocked Unconscious While Shopping Sat Nov 29,10:27 AM ET ORANGE CITY, Fla. - A mob of shoppers rushing for a sale on DVD players trampled the first woman in line and knocked her unconscious as they scrambled for the shelves at a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Patricia VanLester had her eye on a $29 DVD player, but when the siren blared at 6 a.m. Friday announcing the start to the post-Thanksgiving sale, the 41-year-old was knocked to the ground by the frenzy of shoppers behind her. "She got pushed down, and they walked over her like a herd of elephants," said VanLester's sister, Linda Ellzey. "I told them, `Stop stepping on my sister! She's on the ground!'" Ellzey said some shoppers tried to help VanLester, and one employee helped Ellzey reach her sister, but most people just continued their rush for deals. "All they cared about was a stupid DVD player," she said Saturday. Paramedics called to the store found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player, surrounded by shoppers seemingly oblivious to her, said Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance. She was flown to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where doctors told the family VanLester had a seizure after she was knocked down and would likely remain hospitalized through the weekend, Ellzey said. Hospital officials said Saturday they did not have any information on her condition. "She's all black and blue," Ellzey said. "Patty doesn't remember anything. She still can't believe it all happened." Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later Friday to ask about her sister, and the store apologized and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her. Wal-Mart Stores spokeswoman Karen Burk said she had never heard of a such a melee during a sale. "We are very disappointed this happened," Burk said. "We want her to come back as a shopper." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...u=/ap/20031129/ap_on_re_us/trampled_shopper_2 --- She almost dies and all Wal-Mart offers is to hold a DVD player
One of the "Top Ten" plays on Sportscenter last night included a fight between three women lined up at 5am outside a Toys R Us. Apparently one of the woman tried to cut in front of the other two women, and a shoving match ensued. This is why saving a few bucks means absolutely nothing to me. I'd rather shop at a convenient time and spend the extra few bucks. Fools.
I don't know, but sometimes when I read all the bashing threads in the GARM, even though it was online I feel like I've been trampled into near unconciousness.
What are you guys talking about? Why should Wal-Mart even give her a free product, much less pay her bills? Imagine you own a store, and some random customers who you've never seen before trample another random customer. How would you feel if you got asked to pay for your customers' transgressions? And to add insult to injury, it only happened because you were offering especially amazing deals on your products. Wal-Mart DID NOTHING WRONG. Those customers, however, should be sued for all they're worth...
lol. That is plain sick...it's a damn cheap DVD player. Besides, Circuit City had a stack of $29.99 DVD players.
One could always argue that Wal-Mart needs to ensure that things go orderly on their premises. If they had hired more security people, perhaps this would not have happened.
So, is Wal-Mart not liable at all in this case? Paging MadMax, SamCassell, Refman, and other lawyers - please weigh in on this.
Yeah, but I was just talking without really thinking like a lawyer. Anyway, in the US, you can pretty much sue anyone for anything, come on!
Well these days I wouldn't be surprised if this reasoning actually held up in court, but that doesn't make it right. Heck, the article said an employee tried to help! By this logic you could sue the state government every time you got mugged. What happened to the good old days when her sister would have started wailing on the crowd with the closest large metal object she could find?
Why? Customer relations, that's why. It would have been a nice gesture on part of Wal-Mart to give her a free DVD player. I never said anything about paying her medical bill. To ask if she would like Wal-Mart to put the DVD player on hold after apologizing is adding insult to injury. Wal-Mart will be lucky if she doesn't take them to court.
Well if you got mugged inside a government building that didn't have adequate security you could probably sue and win easily.
There are no wires/cables included in that DVD player...We were giving those out free with the purchase of a cell phone, and made more money of people buying the cables
it is not the money . . .it is the principle of the thing Rocket River do i need a smiley for this one
