A Senseless Holiday Tragedy

Yesterday, part of an unruly crowd of shoppers inadvertently turned into a death squad. In one of the saddest stories of the year, a Queens' resident who was working at a Long Island Wal Mart as a greeter, was trampled to death. The tragedy occurred when a crowd surged forward while bum-rushing the retailer's doors to take advantage of a holiday shopping sale.

Yesterday's tragic event should change guidelines on how gathering shoppers are required to line up and wait for the opening of a store. The populous crowd that had coalesced in front of the Wal Mart where the death occurred were bunched up instead of standing in a single file line.

When rabid consumerism costs someone their life, it's time to reevaluate and change the direction that we are proceeding in as a society.

May the victim of this senseless death rest in peace. He will be in my prayers again tonight, along with his loved ones.