Sunday, July 4, 2021

Reader report: Falling tree branch strikes man sitting in Tompkins Square Park

Earlier this evening, a tree branch fell in Tompkins Square Park and struck a man sitting on a bench at the Ninth Street and Avenue B entrance. 

An EVG reader shared the top photo and this narrative around 6:45: "People are helping him. He can walk. The branch is hanging precariously. It is still attached to the tree. A guy called 911." 

The FDNY arrived to remove the rest of the branch from the tree... EVG correspondent Steven took these photos...
According to witnesses, paramedics were treating the man, believed to be in his 60s, at the scene. Hopefully, he is OK...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope the man on the bench is okay. People were helping him and tending to him. A man on a bicycle called 911 and had to do some convincing to get them to send the fire department. The man on the bicycle also took the initiative to place barriers around the area so people wouldn't walk underneath the dangling tree branch. It was good to see how people stepped right in to help. One bystander pointed out that with all the budget cuts, the trees aren't being checked out. I hope the parks department is inspired to take action now. There are so many old trees in the park with long limbs. Some serious trimming needs to be done.

Anonymous said...

Hope this man will be okay!

Anonymous said...

Seriously, this park is being criminally neglected; considering they are about to take East River Park away, they should be showering TSP with gobs of cash and attention. And how ironic is the following, excerpted from an article by Lori Chung on the NY1 News page:

"Battery Park City residents say they're hoping to convince Gov. Andrew Cuomo to drop plans for a monument to essential workers in their neighborhood, worried that they'll lose a vital part of Rockefeller Park "Our primary objective is to preserve this green space. Kids play here, there's soccer games, there's T-ball games on the weekend, people sunbathing," said one resident. "Really, everyone from our community and beyond uses this space." Rafael Torres, who, as an emergency room physician is also an essential worker, says the community deserves to have input."

So there's some opposition to this, and lo and behold the plan has just been scuttled because it would take up TWO PERCENT of the current park space, and the rich residents down there won't give it up. Meanwhile, we're about to lose 100 PERCENT of OUR park space, but our protests and claims of community use are completely ignored because somehow we're supposed to sacrifice a massive green space so cars and drivers aren't inconvenienced, What a city. What politicians. What did we do to deserve them?