Man, doing good deed, killed by falling limb
A man was crushed and killed Sunday by a tree limb as he tried to cut it down with a chainsaw in a South Linden home’s front yard.
His identity has not been released.
The man was standing on a ladder propped against the tree when the limb swung and struck his head from behind, likely killing him on impact, Columbus Police Sgt. Patrick Shaffer said. Medics and police were called to the scene in the 1100 block of Duxberry Avenue at about 1: 15 p. m., where the man was pronounced dead.
“It was horrific,” said Shaffer, who estimated the limb weighed several hundred pounds.
Those who lived in the area said the man, who is believed to be in his 40s, was a kindhearted handyman who enjoyed helping people in the neighborhood.
He wasn’t a professional tree- trimmer and didn’t live at the address where he died, but he and others were helping a woman who did, neighbors said. They asked to not be named.
“He just fixed my car,” one woman said. “It wouldn’t be running if it wasn’t for him.”
Another neighbor called the death a “freak accident,” but others said they had been growing concerned for his safety as they watched him saw down portions of the tree since Friday. Though most of its limbs were sawed down to stubs, the trunk still stretched at least a story high Sunday afternoon. It appeared ropes were still tied to the limb that killed the man.
The front yard, where he fell after he was struck, was filled with piles of trimmed tree branches.