Man Killed by Falling Branch in Central Park

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times   The scene in Central Park where a man was killed on Thursday afternoon

A 46-year-old man was killed in Central Park when a snow-sodden tree limb fell on him just before 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the authorities said, according to the New York Times.

The man, Elmaz Qyra of Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, was declared dead at the location, a tree-canopied stretch along Literary Walk on the east side of the park near 69th Street, after crews from the Fire Department arrived at the spot.

A witness who walked by as Mr. Qyra lay bleeding said that the branch, which came to rest beside his head, looked like it must have weighed 100 pounds. The American elm tree it fell from, the witness said, was massive, perhaps 80 feet high, and was bowed beneath the weight of several inches of wet snow.

The accident was reminiscent of one last summer in which a man, Sasha J. Blair-Goldensohn, 33, was hit by a rotten tree branch that fell because of its weight and hit him in the head. Mr. Blair-Goldensohn, an engineer for Google, sustained brain and spinal injuries but survived.

The police closed Fifth Avenue from 69th to 71 Streets after at least two other limbs or trees fell there, one hitting a car and another a bus, said Paul J. Browne, the chief police spokesman. No one was injured in those falls.

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Man Killed by Falling Branch in Central Park

New York Times  City Room - February 25, 2010 - By Al Baker and Mick Meenan