Four injured after Central Park tree topples
NEW YORK— Four people were injured in Central Park on Tuesday morning when a giant elm tree toppled, pinning a woman beneath its branches before a group of Samaritans pulled her out, according to police and witnesses.
Why the tree fell near 62nd St., blocking West Dr., which runs through Central Park, is under investigation, said Sam Biederman, a spokesperson for the New York City department of parks and recreation.
Immediately after the incident, different accounts emerged about the extent of the injuries to the four people.
On Twitter, Eric Phillips, the chief spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that one person was in critical condition, the others “possibly serious.” But according to the parks department, all of the injuries were not life-threatening. The injured were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, police said.
Antonio Russo of Brooklyn said he was riding his bike down West Dr. when he saw the tree begin to fall, almost in slow motion. When it struck the woman, it appeared as if she became unconscious, he said. When she recovered, still pinned under the tree, she began screaming for her child, he said. The baby, about 7 or 8 months old, was in the arms of a police officer, he said.
A group of passersby quickly came to her aide, Russo said, and he “heard limbs being snapped over her.” They were breaking the tree limbs off her, he said. “New Yorkers are great, man.” The woman who was injured had three children with her, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old in a stroller, and an infant strapped to her, Officer Meghan O’Leary said at a news conference. O’Leary said when she had arrived at the scene, passersby had pulled the baby off the woman and the other children out of the stroller.
Geoffrey Croft, president of the New York City Park Advocates, a watchdog group, said the tree fell about 36 metres from where Sasha J. Blair-Goldensohn, a 37-year-old engineer at Google, was hit by a falling tree that partially severed his spine in 2009.