Woman trampled, knocked unconscious during
shopping blitz
By Alicia A. Caldwell
Florida Correspondent
Posted November 29 2003, 1:29 PM EST
By Alicia A. Caldwell
Florida Correspondent
Posted November 29 2003, 1:29 PM EST
| ORANGE CITY --
When the siren rang at precisely 6 a.m. Friday to kick off the Wal-Mart
Supercenter's five-hour "blitz" sale, Patricia VanLester was first in line
to grab a $29 DVD player. Her sister, 48-year-old Linda Ellzey, waited just 4 feet away with a shopping cart. But before VanLester, 41, could inch her way through the crowd with the prized Christmas gift for their mother, she was knocked to the ground by a frenzy of shoppers. Before paramedics arrived, Ellzey said, VanLester did not recognize her and did not know where she was, nor did she remember what had happened after being flown to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach. Ellzey did not know what her sister's condition was late Friday afternoon. She said doctors told the family that VanLester had a seizure after she was knocked down and likely would remain hospitalized at least overnight. VanLester has no history of seizures or other medical conditions, Ellzey said. "All she kept saying was, 'I want my mommy; I want my mommy,' " Ellzey said. Hospital officials would not confirm whether VanLester had been admitted. VanLester and her sister got to the Wal-Mart at 3:30 a.m. in search of ink for a computer printer. They decided to stay when they realized the "blitz" would start in just 2 1/2 hours. They figured that way they were guaranteed an Apex DVD player that would go on sale for $29.87, Ellzey said from her sister's Orange City home. Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance, said witnesses told paramedics that when VanLester was knocked to the ground, she hit her head and started convulsing. "A mob knocked her to the ground," O'Keefe said. Others decide to leave Valerie Calabrese, 42, of Deltona said Friday afternoon that when she saw VanLester get knocked down, she and her two children decided to get out of the store. "They bombarded her," Calabrese said. A woman and her two children joked about taking the DVD player that VanLester was clutching, Calabrese said. "There was a lady there, and her two kids were laughing about it, joking about it, saying, 'Mom's going to take it.' " When Orange City and EVAC paramedics got to the store, they found VanLester lying on her left side on top of the DVD player, surrounded by shoppers who were seemingly oblivious to the unconscious woman, O'Keefe said Employees referred all questions to Wal-Mart's headquarters. Suzanne Haney, a spokeswoman in Arkansas, said two store managers cleared the crowd from around VanLester and called paramedics. "The people were all around this woman," O'Keefe said. "They would not move as the ambulance crew arrived and tried to get to the woman. They were concerned about one thing: bargain shopping." Lt. Richard Beauregard of the Orange City Fire Department said his paramedics also had to wade through the crowd to get to VanLester. "They were more concerned about what they were doing than getting out of way of the paramedics," Beauregard said. Wal-Mart account differs The Wal-Mart spokeswoman said she did not know why the company's version of events differed from paramedics' accounts. "From what I was told, the two managers cleared the crowd," Haney said. Ellzey said some shoppers tried to help VanLester, forming a barrier around her, and one employee did help her get to her sister. Most people, though, just continued their rush for deals. "People just walked over her like she wasn't there, like they didn't even care," Ellzey said. Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called Friday afternoon to ask about her sister. She said the store also apologized and offered to put the DVD player on hold. Alicia A. Caldwell is a staff writer for the Orlando Sentinel, a Tribune Company newspaper. | ||||||||||||||||
Charles Mims
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