Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog
According to a recent news feature from the Boston Globe, a couple died when a tree in Abington, Massachusetts fell on their car as they were driving through the neighborhood. One witness has said he was shoveling snow off his driveway when he saw the tree fall across the front yard of a nearby home.
He said the tree came crashing down tearing through power lines and landed on the victims’ car as they were traveling down the street late on a Sunday morning. He said it was an absolutely “horrific” accident and he ran out into to street to see if he could help the victims. He also yelled for his wife to call first responders to the scene.
When he got to the badly crushed vehicle, he said the middle of the car was crushed entirely by the very large tree and all he could make out in the passenger compartment was a hand. There was no movement coming from the occupants of the car. When paramedics and firefighters arrived on the scene, they immediately began extracting the victims from the now destroyed car. However, they were unable to make any significant progress with the equipment they had and called for heavy rescue equipment.
At this point, a special hydraulics vehicle operated by fire and rescue arrived to lift the street off the car and cut the car body away to remove the two victims. It took around 30 more minutes to free occupants from the car. Once they were free from the car, they were given immediate medical attention and rushed to a local level one trauma center. However, their injuries proved too severe and they were both pronounced dead at the hospital according to authorities.
The couple was the owner of a local Boston area Dunkin’ Donuts and had a 20-year-old son at the time of their tragic deaths.
A rescue worker interviewed for this article said the extraction was one of the more difficult ones in which he had been involved. Aside from the fact that the BMW was entirely crushed by the large tree, the car was surrounded with downed power lines that were still live and posed a substantial danger to anyone around including rescue workers.
Boston car accidents involving falling trees occur more frequently than one might think. While a tree can always fall in a high wind situation, many people, and in some cases municipal governments, allow trees under their control to be in state that makes them more likely to fall in the event of heavy winds. If a tree is dead for example, it should be removed from the property to prevent it from falling over and causing a significant personal injury. However, it should be noted that in the case of this couple who was killed when the tree fell on their BMW in Abington, there has not been any finding of liability as of this time.
Labiality in these cases may depend heavily on the facts of so it is best to speak with an experienced car accident lawyer about the facts relevant to your particular situation.
If you are injured in an accident in Massachusetts, call Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential appointment — (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Whitman couple dead after tree falls on car in Abington, April 3, 2016, Boston Globe, By Jan Ransom
More Blog Entries:
Pedestrian Dragged Hundreds of Feet in Car Crash – Western Massachusetts, June 13, 2015, Boston Car Accident Attorney Blog