About a week ago I noticed an online story about a former employee who drove his car into a Walmart where he caused extensive damage. It happened on April 2nd in Concord, North Carolina.
I asked myself just how could I incorporate this into my blog? What significance might it have to my readers? What lessons could be learned, if any?
Answers to those questions came to me after watching some of the available online videos.
The audio in the video above describes where the driver drove after he crashed through the front door. He literally drove his car through the store causing extensive damage. He maneuvered through the electronics department, then through general merchandise, next into groceries until finally coming to a stop in the health and beauty section.
It reminded me somewhat of another video and a story I wrote in October, 2019. “Chuck Duda Comments On Woodfield Mall Security Bollard Needs” showed a video of an SUV that crashed through the then Sears store and was driving through the mall with people in the vicinity.
There were no bollards protecting the entrance at the mall. However, I did notice something at about the 2:25 mark in the above video at Walmart. Do you note the same thing I did?
So I looked for other videos as well. This next video confirmed my suspicion. Notice the police car backing up at about the 25-second mark.
I had noticed in the prior video there were three bollards installed in front of the main entrance. But the police car was parked off on the right side and I could not determine if there had been a bollard in that area. When the police car backed up, there clearly was nothing there.
The three bollards were probably installed there to deter a potential accident or ram raid aimed directly at the entrance doors. The logic was perhaps that the threat was from a speeding car that would come down the center aisle running perpendicular to the entrance.
However, there were no bollards positioned just off to the right of the front doors (nor off to the left). This alignment allowed the driver to travel at a slower speed and navigate around the existing bollards before ramming into the store.
In my opinion, a few extra bollards could have prevented this occurrence. It was a ‘worst-case scenario’ that went unaddressed.
I include the third video to show the car within the store and some of the extensive damage. The store was closed to the public for a long time and the loss in building, fixture and merchandise damage, as well as the lost revenue, probably ran into the thousands of dollars. Thankfully there were no injuries.
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