Black Friday Death at Wal-Mart

When Jdimytai Damour, 34, went to work at Wal-Mart on Black Friday nobody knew it would be his last day alive. He was killed while trying to open the doors for an impatient crowd - estimated at 2,000 - rushing to enter the store. In what can only be described as a stampede, shoppers "pushed the glass sliding doors to the ground, bending their aluminum frames like an accordion". Damour was shoved to the ground and trampled to death by the horde of frenzied shoppers. Even co-workers trying to help the fallen Damour were stepped upon. Minutes later, police trying to give Damour first aid were jostled by customers still running into the store, located at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Long Island, NY.

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Wal-Mart was roundly criticized for not having provided enough security at the store. A workers union is calling for an investigation "by all levels of government" to ensure justice for Damour's family and make sure that such an incident never happens at Wal-Mart again.

"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York's largest grocery worker's union. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?

"This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart," he said.

The UFCW has long been a harsh critic of Wal-Mart's, arguing that the world's largest retailer offers low wages and poor health care for its workers and pushes competitors and suppliers to do the same or go out of business. The group has had only marginal success in organizing Wal-Mart workers in the United States and Canada, citing aggressive anti-union efforts by Wal-Mart.

In a statement Wal-Mart said the store had added internal security, brought in outside security, erected barricades and worked with Nassau County police in anticipation of heavy crowds.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased," Wal-Mart Senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in the statement. "We are continuing to work closely with local law enforcement, and we are reaching out to those involved."

Even if the store did not provide proper security, the crowd of seemingly uncaring shoppers who participated in the rampage also needs to be held responsible. Police are reviewing the security video to see if they can identify any of those who were involved.

In the meantime Damour's family prepares to bury him. His mother who lives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was en route to help with the funeral arrangements and his father, Ogera Charles, who is featured in the report below, is said to be in total shock:

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Friends and family describe Jdimytai Damour as a helpful man who loved poetry and was a fan of the late novelist Donald Goines. A Freeport High School graduate, Damour attended Nassau Community College for a year. He was a big man but had no apparent health problems. He did construction work for a time and installed fences. His family roots are in Haiti, and he had a brother and four sisters.

2 Daughters Raped by Their Dad

A British man was sentenced to 25 life sentences - to run concurrently. His name was withheld in order to protect the identities of his victims: His 2 daughters and their 7 living children. This because he is the father of his daughters' children. In a case that brings back memories of Josef Fritzl of Austria, this unnamed man had an ongoing sexual relationship with his two daughters for 27 years.

The two daughters were made pregnant 19 times; there were nine births, five miscarriages and five terminations. Seven of the children are alive but suffer genetic deformities.

After pleading guilty to 25 counts of rape, at Sheffield Crown Court, northern England, the presiding judge Alan Goldsack - calling it "the worst (case) I have come across" in 40 years of judicial practice - said the man should serve a minimum of 19.5 years before being eligible for parole. South Yorkshire Police Chief Superintendent Simon Torr said:

"The victims of these terrible crimes have asked me to state the following: 'His detention in prison brings us only the knowledge that he cannot physically touch us again. The suffering he has caused will continue for many years, and we must now concentrate our thoughts on finding the strength to rebuild our lives.' "

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Many questions abound as to how the crimes this man committed went unnoticed by the authorities. Despite visiting hospitals and meeting with social workers over the 27 years of abuse, no investigation was launched into the family. Authorities are investigating exactly how the rapist was never called to account by neighbors, teachers, doctors, social workers, police or his extended family. The 56-year-old man was only apprehended when his daughters finally broke their silence.

Prosecutors told the court that the man began raping his daughters in 1981, from the time they were 8 or 10 years old, beating them when they resisted. They described how the defendant used intimidation, fear and evasiveness to keep his secret. He warned his children to keep quiet and when they were older he beat them. Each daughter said she was unaware the other was being abused until the pregnancies began. "The defendant also ensured that his family were kept isolated and that there were very few visitors to the home," prosecutor Nicholas Campbell told Sheffield Crown Court.

"The victims were too frightened to tell anyone, even their mother," Campbell said. The court was told that the girls' mother left their father in the early 1990s, more than a decade after the abuse began, and it is unclear whether she knew what was going on.

The girls would be raped up to three times a week, and the assaults would continue through pregnancies. Their only reprieve came after they had just given birth or when they were ill because of the abuse.
If either daughter tried to refuse their father's attacks, they would be punched, kicked and or held to the flames of a gas fire, burning their eyes and arms, PA reported.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that people "will rightly want to know how such abuse could go on for so long without the authorities and the wider public services discovering it and taking action."

"If there is a change to be made in the system and the system has failed, we will change the system as a result of the inquiries," Brown said.

There were, however, telltale signs of the abuse:

• A school asked questions about burn marks on one girl's arm, but it was attributed to bullying.


• In 1997, the daughters' brother went to police to report the incest. But his sisters refused to cooperate and the investigation stalled.


• Medical staff also had concerns about the high number of abnormalities in the women's pregnancies. One doctor even asked one of the women whether her father was the father of her children. She denied it.


• in 1998 one daughter rang Childline, a charity to help abused kids, and asked for assurances about being able to keep her children if she came forward. When Childline could not make that guarantee, the daughter did nothing more to raise her plight.

"Where were the medical professionals? Where were the social workers? What were they doing for the last 20 years?" said Nick Clegg, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, who represents a district of Sheffield.

In June the two women finally reported their abuse to social workers leading to the arrest, trial and conviction of their father.

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No Bail for Jeffrey Conroy

Without comment, state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle denied Jeffrey Conroy bail and ordered him back to jail. Conroy - who is being held on charges that include second-degree murder as a hate crime, manslaughter and gang assault - pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyer, William Keahon of Islandia, says that his client is innocent and he intends to prove it.

"I promise that the district attorney's office will not and cannot convict my client because he is innocent," Keahon said.

Jeffrey Conroy, 17, is accused of stabbing to death 37-year-old Marcelo Lucero on Nov. 8 2008 during a racially-motivated gang assault involving himself and 6 other teens from Patchogue-Medford High School in Long Island, NY. In fact the 7 teens had been "beaner jumping" - a derogatory term used to signify that they were looking for Hispanics to beat up - that night.

They had picked on other Hispanics before encountering Lucero. After hurling racial epithets at Lucero - who was from Ecuador -  the teens proceeded to punch and kick him. Lucero unsuccessfully tried to defend himself with the belt from his pants but he was hopelessly overwhelmed by the teens. The brawl ended when Conroy plunged his knife into Lucero's chest, killing him.


Also charged were:

Jordan Dasch, Nicholas Hausch, Kevin Shea, and Anthony Hartford, all 17 years old from Medford;

Christopher Overton, 16, and Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue;

Bail was set by Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond for 5 of the 6 teens.

Christopher Overton was held without bail, citing the suspect’s previous felony conviction in connection with a botched 2007 burglary that left homeowner Carlton Shaw Sr., 38, dead on the lawn of his East Patchogue home.

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota insisted his office had a "very, very strong case" against Conroy and the other six defendants. Spota said the hate crime charges should send a message to the would-be perpetrators of other bias attacks.

"The clear-cut message," Spota said, "is we in Suffolk County, we do take it very seriously."

The indictments of the 6 teens were announced the same day as the funeral was held for Marcelo Lucero in Ecuador. His grieving mother, Rosario, said the latest indictments were nothing to celebrate but the charges are "well deserved. They need to understand the pain they have caused us."
Marcello Lucero liked playing volleyball and lifting weights. He rented movies with friends and called his mother in Ecuador several times a week. Lucero was 10 when his father died of a heart attack. "Suddenly, he became the man of the house and had to help my mother raise three younger siblings," said his brother, also known as Efriam. "He never complained. There were so few opportunities at home," his brother said. "He wanted the American dream." So he traveled to the United States.

"Even though he'd been in the United States for 16 years, he always said, 'I miss home. I'm going back,'" his brother Joselo said yesterday. "Now he'll never be able to go home."

The following set of videos show a part of the life of Marcelo Lucero and the struggles that some immigrants go through to find a better life for themselves and their families.

Many men travel to the US leaving behind their families including children who miss their fathers very much:

It is sometimes difficult to understand the conditions that motivate immigrants - many of them illegal - to leave in their homeland in search of work to send back money to improve the lives of their loved ones.

The funeral for Marcelo was attended by hundreds from the town of Gualaceo, Ecuador, where he was born and lived, until coming to the U.S. His mother, Rosario and sister, Isabel, carried his ashes to the church and the cemetery followed by crowds of well-wishers.

R.I.P.

Marcelo Lucero

1971 - 2008

Marcelo Lucero - A Victim of Racism

On Nov. 8th 2008, Marcelo Lucero, 37, of Patchogue, L.I. was murdered by Jeffrey Conroy, 17, who plunged a knife into his chest during a gang assault. Conroy has now been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime - the first time on Long Island someone has faced such a charge - along with the original charge of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. Conroy could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted. His bail has not yet been set.

But Jeffrey Conroy was not alone. In fact he was a member of a gang of 7 teenagers - all between 16 and 17, students at Patchogue-Medford High School - who were out ''beaner jumping,'' a derogatory term they used as a euphemism for attacking Hispanics.

The other 6 teenagers involved in this incident were all charged with gang assault, conspiracy, attempted assault and attempted gang assault. They face 5 to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Charged were:

Jordan Dasch, Nicholas Hausch, Kevin Shea, and Anthony Hartford, all 17 years old from Medford;

Christopher Overton, 16, and Jose Pacheco, 17, of East Patchogue;

Bail was set by Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond for 5 of the 6 teens.

Christopher Overton was held without bail, citing the suspect's previous felony conviction in connection with a botched 2007 burglary that left homeowner Carlton Shaw Sr., 38, dead on the lawn of his East Patchogue home.

Nicolas Hausch and Jordan Dasch also were each charged with another count of second-degree assault as a hate crime after they attacked Marlon Garcia in front of his home with a BB gun about 5 a.m. that day, prosecutors said.

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said the seven students charged in the attack admitted they regularly beat Hispanics for fun. He said one of the accused attackers, Anthony Hartford, 17, of Medford, told police "I don't go out doing this very often, maybe once a week."

"That statement provides a true window into the mindset of these defendants," Spota said. "To them, it was a sport."

It all began on the morning of Nov. 8th when two of the accused teens, Nicolas Hausch and Jordan Dasch started out from their homes in the hamlet of Medford at the crack of dawn to look for Hispanics to terrorize. Their first victim was a Hispanic man, Marlon Garcia, who was standing in his driveway. The pair took aim at him with a BB gun and shot him several times.

That same evening the two teens met up with five more of their friends and decided to continue "beaner jumping". At about 11:30 pm the gang found and beat a Hispanic man, Hector Sierra, 55, in neighboring Patchogue, but he was able to escape.

Sierra said he noticed a light-colored sport utility vehicle driving by slowly. "I had the impression I was being watched," said Sierra, adding that he continued walking. The SUV stopped about 40 yards away at Thorne Street, Sierra said, and four males with closely cropped hair jumped out. "Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them running really fast," he said.

"They punched me twice on the side of my head, then they struck me on the back of the head and I fell in the middle of the street," Hector Sierra said of the Nov. 8 attack by four male teenagers. "They kicked me, and I thought, 'they're going to kill me.'"

Sierra said he got up and rushed to a home near Oak Street, pounding his fists on the windows, kicking the front door and yelling for help until the assailants ran away. "They never said anything," he said. "It was a hunt ... It was very dark."

Just before midnight Saturday, Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, and a pal were walking to another friend's home when the teens piled out of an SUV yelling racial epithets. As his friend ran, Lucero pulled his leather belt from his waist to defend himself. He managed to strike one of them. But he was no match for the thugs and was soon overwhelmed.

Kevin Shea later boasted, " 'I punched him, I got him good. I saw blood coming down,' " police sources said.

At one point, Lucero managed to scramble to his feet. That's when Jeffrey Conroy, a lacrosse and wrestling star who sources said has a swastika tattoo on his thigh, allegedly stabbed him in the chest.
 

"This was not some high-school prank," Assistant Suffolk DA Nancy Clifford said "This was a well-thought-out crime specifically targeting Hispanics." In their own words they decided beforehand,  'Let's go find some Mexicans to f- - - up.'

Blind Woman Threatened Over Unpaid Bill

Here is a story about computer-assisted bungling bureaucrats. 74-year-old Eileen Wilbur, who is also blind, is in serious trouble with the city of Attleboro, Mass. They have threatened to put a lien on her house plus a $48 penalty if her overdue water bill is not paid by Dec. 10. Eileen received the disturbing news when her daughter opened the letter. It sent her blood pressure through the roof. Eileen Wilbur owes the city of Attleboro, Mass. 1 cent. In an interview with The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro Eileen noted that postage stamps cost 42 cents.

City Collector Debora Marcoccio said the letter was among 2,000 sent out to residents with delinquent water bills for the period covering July 2007 to July 2008. She said their computer system prints out bills with overdue balances automatically. The notices are not checked by the staff before being mailed out to the offending parties.

Debora Marcoccio, showing that she is a true professional, did however have a question.

"My question is, how come it wasn't paid when the (original) bills went out?" Marcoccio said.

She was not questioning the cost of having to generate a bill and mail it for the penny that was owed - after all as Eileen pointed out, the stamp alone costs 42 cents. She was not even questioning the stupidity of threatening to place a lien on Eileen's house for a penny - I wonder how much that would cost. She was seriously concerned about why Eileen Wilbur did not pay her water bill. Debora Marcoccio is a true bureaucrat.

Eileen Wilbur's daughter, Rose Brederson, who discovered the bill in her mother's mail, called the situation "ridiculous." But she said her mother, who has lived in the home since 1959, would likely end up paying the penny.

For Eileen's sake and the bureaucrats of Attleboro, Mass., I hope she can come up with the cash before the Dec. 10th deadline or she may just find herself homeless.