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A groundswell of Black Friday shoppers stood in line for hours and were ready for the doors of Walmart at the Greens Acres Mall to open.

According to published reports, at 5 a.m., a wave of people numbering about 2,000 surged forward, trampling and killing Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Jamaica.

“It’s called Black Friday because stores accounting books go into the black, but for one family this year it refers to the untimely death of a young son and brother,” Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) said in a press release. “The events of this week demand that government steps in to require retailers to take common-sense measures to protect workers and shoppers from the perils of these unsafe free-for-alls.”

Damour’s father, Ogara Charles, said at about 7 a.m. he received word that his son was dead.

The frenzied shoppers had congregated outside Walmart and other stores in the traditional Black Friday door buster sales.

Published reports state that even after police arrived to assist Damour, the crowd didn’t relent.

Damour, a temporary employee at the superstore, was one of 12 people who were knocked down by the crowd. An eight month pregnant woman who was also tousled and was taken to the hospital and released.

Currently, two customers, a father and son are suing Walmart and the Nassau County Police. According to published reports, the lawsuit filed by the Fritz Mesadieu, 51, and his son Jonathan Mesadieu, 19, states that their injuries were a result of carelessness, recklessness and negligence during the Nov. 28 skirmish.

Bruce Both, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, New York State’s largest grocery workers Union, said the incident was “avoidable.”

“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?” Both asked. “This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Walmart. UFCW Local 1500 will demand a full investigation by all levels of Government to ensure both justice for the surviving family members and to ensure the safety of current employees and the general public. This can never be allowed to happen again and those responsible must be held accountable.”

The case is currently being handled by Nassau County Police’s homicide division. A public information officer said there were no charges at the moment, but the incident is actively under investigation.

At a press conference, Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, said an autopsy found that Damour, a 270 pound 6’5” man, died of asphyxiation related to being crushed.

Mulvey said adequate security wasn’t provided by Walmart to deal with the influx of shoppers. However, Walmart released a statement claiming that it had taken safeguards to prevent the frenzy.

The statement posted on Walmart’s Web site reads, “We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County Police. We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred.”

Gennaro, who is currently working on a Doorbuster Bill, said he doesn’t believe Walmart provided ample security. He said he spoke with people who had waited on line throughout the night and according to Gennaro, they said there was no security in place.

“The police came in the middle of the night to quell some sort of disturbance,” he said. “Whatever they had was not adequate.”

He went onto say that the Walmart may have provided interior security to protect their goods, but there was no one in place for crowd control.

The Doorbuster Bill would “protect shoppers and store staff from dangerous shopping frenzies by mandating appropriate security measures and holding retailers accountable when people are injured.” He said the bill would create a mandate for what “responsible” retailers already do. He added that Damour put a human face on the issue.

Gennaro said events like Black Friday are the only ones that don’t mandate special security.

“This and this alone is unique,” Gennaro said. “People are left to themselves. These kinds of situations are completely unregulated.”

Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) said she will introduce a similar bill to Gennaro’s in the coming year.

“This young man can’t die in vain,” she said. “We got to do something. I can’t even believe people would believe that. I was in shock couldn’t believe that a sale means that much to people.”