Crowd dynamics were hardly an unforeseen and unpredictable science back in 2008. [1]
Imagine being so focused on running a sale that that you create a dangerous environment for both employees and customers, and then when this kills someone, shirking responsibility.
There's a wide line between being at fault for a death and being criminally at fault. For criminal fault, you either need mens rea, or a callous disregard for human life. Mere disregard for human life is a civil issue.
Honestly I would just doubt OSHA's authority and absolutely fight that.
A lot of this discussion is "there should be consequences" and neglecting to consider "who is the authority to bring consequences and what are those consequences". This allows for cognitive neglect that seems to simply be "any consequence from a private person or the government is a good consequence" and that's just categorically false!
so, yeah I'd take the general stance of "fuck that regulator, in particular" and it would look like "apathetic capitalist fighting thing they are responsible for" but that wouldn't be my stance at all, where I would be totally open to a more convincing authority with a more convincing case. state AG or the DOJ coming in guns blazing? Oh shit completely different calculus! Passionate labor regulator with the weakest tangentially related civil lawsuit that also has the off chance of causing more civil liability just because I was too worried about a PR hit? Gtfoh
Imagine being so focused on running a sale that that you create a dangerous environment for both employees and customers, and then when this kills someone, shirking responsibility.
Heads you win, tails I lose?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_stampedes_and_cr...