A beloved New York City Housing Authority worker was killed by a tree that fell on him Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn as heavy winds from a nor’easter whipped the city.
The victim, 56, was struck by the tree around 3:24 p.m. at the NYCHA Cypress Hills Houses at Euclid and Dumont Aves. in East New York, cops said.
“We can confirm that this individual was a NYCHA employee,” an agency spokesperson said. “We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss and extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and the NYCHA community.”
Footage from Citizen showed multiple firefighters working to extricate the victim from underneath the massive tree, which fell just outside the fence of the Cypress Hills Playground on its southern side.
EMS transported him to Brookdale University Hospital where he died.
David Ortiz, 49, who lives in the complex, said he was sitting in his kitchen with his wife when they heard “a big bang.” His wife took a photo of the fallen tree from their apartment window, and at first they thought it had landed on a garbage can. He ran outside to take a closer look, only to find out the awful truth.
“He was already gone, you could tell he was gone,” Ortiz said. “That was a big, heavy tree that fell on top of him.”
He said the victim was known in the community as Mr. Brown and was beloved.
“He came the other day to fix my light, and they told me that he was the one that was under the tree,” Ortiz said. “He was very kind. He loved my dog. He was like, ‘I’m going to kidnap your dog one day.’ It’s so sad. Like I got goosebumps.”
“It just was like a loud noise, sort of like thunder,” another neighbor, who gave his name as Floyd, 45, said. “And then we looked out the window and we just, we saw the tree, and then that’s when I noticed there was a guy, like under the tree, and then that’s when EMS came and everything. He wasn’t moving the whole time. So we figured it was bad.”
“Nature is nature,” he said. “If a tree is old, and when (there’s) a heavy wind, yeah, one more thing to, you know, to look out for in life.”
Asked if had been windy when the tree came crashing down, he said, “It was just nonstop since probably last night. It was — but I didn’t think that it would do that.”
The powerful early-season nor’easter pounded the East Coast Saturday, downing trees and flooding New York City streets and roadways as it unleashed heavy rain and powerful winds across the five boroughs.
Just two hours later around 5:30 p.m., also in Brooklyn, four people were struck by a falling tree at Kelly Park Playground on E. 14th St. and Avenue S in Sheepshead Bay, the FDNY said.
EMS transported all four victims to Maimonides Medical Center where they were treated for minor injuries.
In June, an 85-year old retired statistician who loved taking long walks in nature was killed in a freak accident when a sudden summer storm toppled a tree that crushed him in a Queens park.
Zenon Reynarowych died on a footpath in Forest Park on June 6 around 8:30 p.m., when the fast-moving thunderstorm brought powerful winds that downed hundreds of trees across the city.
Carolyn Brandlein, a neighbor who knew Reynarowych, was left in disbelief.
“What are the odds? It’s unbelievable,” Brandlein said at the time. “It was like winning the lottery that no one wants to win.”
