A 73-year-old man was killed Friday when he was struck by large branch that fell from a tree as he sat on a park bench at Paddlewheel Park in South Fort George.
Witnesses on the scene told police that the branch broke off with a loud crack and hit the man on the head at about 5:35 p.m. on Friday. They performed CPR on him but he was unresponsive to their life-saving efforts. He was transported to hospital and later died of his injuries.
Dave Wyssen, who lives on Royal Crescent and was the man’s friend and neighbour, said they frequently would walk together to the park. Wyssen said this was third time this summer a large branch has fallen from that particular tree, a cottonwood poplar, which is a prominent feature of the riverside park which overlooks the Fraser River.
“I was quite angry because the city has been steadily working with the area for large falling branches, and especially that very tree,” said Wyssen. “That tree, just in the past month, has had two massive branches come down that have bounced off the benches that are there below it. They clean them up with a considerable amount of time and you would imagine with the work crews there cleaning up these massive messes nobody in the city would think to investigate this?”
Wyssen said the branch that killed his friend was about 18 inches wide. He said an even larger branch, which he estimated at nearly two feet in diameter, fell in early July and hit the same bench where the man was at the time he was struck on Friday.
“It bounced off of that bench and I was amazed it didn’t get crushed,” said Wyssen. “That was where he was sitting this time as well.
“There was no thought put into that maybe this tree is dangerous? It’s just mindblowing.”
Wyssen said the first falling-branch incident happened in June. He said he called the city about two weeks ago, right after the second branch came down, but said nothing was done about it.
“There is repeated work-crew history on this very tree,” said Wyssen. “It could have been prevented. This needs to be brought to the city’s attention, it’s getting ridiculous. The trees are all over the main trail that goes up to (Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park) and up to Cottonwood (Island Park). There have been narrow misses on many people over the past while.”
Mike Kellet, the city's senior communications officer, confirmed city staff are looking into the fatal incident but could not reveal any details of those discussions at this time.
"The City of Prince George offers its condolences to the family and friends of the man who died over the weekend after an incident at Paddlewheel Park," said Kellet in a prepared statement. "The City is reviewing the matter, and is not able to comment further until the investigation into the incident is complete."
