USGNN.com™ Talks with New York Glazier Called to Wal-Mart Tragedy

For many people "Black Friday" shopping is a yearly tradition--after all, it's a chance to save big bucks on holiday shopping. This year, however, those big savings came with a big price no one was expecting when Jdimytai Damour, who was working as a temporary employee at the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., was trampled to death by an estimated 2,000 shoppers fighting their way through the store's glass doors around 5 a.m.

Solar Glass Inc. based in Island Park, N.Y., which does all the glass replacements for this area Wal-Mart, was called to the scene to repair the broken doors and glass.

Steve Solar, owner of Solar Glass, said his regular contact at Wal-Mart called him immediately after the accident happened.

"He said we needed to come out [and repair the doors] but that we could not get there until after 2 p.m. because there was a crime scene," said Solar.

Solar told USGNN.com™ that his initial reaction was thinking 'how did this happen?'

"And then when I heard that someone died from it that was all I could think about."

Solar said when he arrived at the scene the storefront doors were on the floor.

"[When people] stampeded in, the doors were ripped off at the hinges," he added, explaining that it was a tremendous force to cause such damage. "The doors and frames are designed to take a certain amount of stress, but it was that jolt of impact that pushed the doors inward," said Solar.

Fortunately, the glass in the storefront was laminated so there was no broken glass from the accident that could have caused even more injuries or fatalities.

"[The glazing system used] was the best thing that could have been used for that application," said Solar. "The glazing did its job; it did its job so well in that there was no broken glass shards, etc. that could have injured other people. Unfortunately, it just can't take such brutal force."

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