Central Park: Woman & Kids Struck By Massive Tree

A massive American Elm tree suddenly came down near 62nd Street and the West Drive, striking a family of four who were pinned beneath it.   The incident occured at 10:00am. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

A 39-year-old woman was knocked unconscious by a massive American Elm tree while she pushed a stroller in the park with her three children. 

Anne Goldman,  her three sons, 4, 2 and a 4-month old infant she was carrying wearing a baby carrier were pinned under the branches and tree canapy after the tree suddenly came down.

The size of the tree stetched across the lengh of the West Drive near 63rd Street.

Good Samaritans quickly arrived at the scene and worked together to remove the branches.

An NYPD mounted unit heading down to Trump building detail joined the rescue.

Officers said they heard a loud crack, "It happened very quickly," said police officer Joesph Tomeo.

The mother was lying on her back when police arrived.

"What happened, what happened," officer Tomeo said the woman asked.

The officer described the stroller as, "twisted" from the impact of the tree.



"It was heart breaking," said mounted NYPD officer Meghan O'Leary who also provided assistance at the scene.

FDNY removed tree limbs with chainsaws and EMS treated and removed the family.

All four of the victims were taken to New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.  Police said the infant had a few scratches and bruises.

"God helped her out,"  said Antonio Russo, 57, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn who said he was about 100 feet way on his bike when he is saw the tree come down.

"It came down in slow motion,"  he said. "It came down nice and easy."

Russo said the mother's youngest boy was crying.

"She just wanted to see her baby, " he said.


Investigators at the scene.

  
This afternoon Central Park Conservancy workers and a contractor removed the remains of the tree.

The incident occurred approximately 40 yards from where a Google engineer was severally injured when a large rotted tree branch fell and struck him in the head.

In 2013 the city quietly settled the case for $11.5 million dollars. 

The city also quietly paid $3 million dollars to settle a case involving an Albanian immigrant from Brooklyn who was killed by a fallen American elm tree near 69th Street while walking through Central Park less than six months earlier.  That case was settled as the jury was being selected.  

In June 2013, a 59-year-old tourist from Indiana was injured after she was struck by a tree limb in Central Park.

Multiple lawsuits against the City are still pending.

Erin Ade‏ @erinade  Good Samaritans helped the trapped family, working together to remove the branches.








A Central Park Conservancy worker removing the remains of the tree.









A Central Park Conservancy worker removes the remains of the large canopy debris field after the incident. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on images to enlarge

Read More:

Central Park Tree Lawsuits: $11.5 Million Payout As City Quietly Settles Google Engineer Tree Injury Suit- $ 3 Million For Albanian Immigrant Living in Brooklyn Killed.
A Walk In the Park -  June 2, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft

Trees Topples in Central Park, Injuring 4

New York Times - August 15, 2017 - By Sarah Maslin Nir and Jonathan Wolfe 

Central Park tree falls on mother holding infant son, trapping her, FDNY says
AMNY - August 15, 2017 -  By Alex Bazeley and Polly Higgins

Mother, Three Children Hurt After Tree Falls In Central Park
CBS - August 15, 2017 

PullCart Bethesda Terrace Liquor License Avoids CB 8

Alcohol - Coming Soon - July 17, 2011. Pullcart, the controversial Central Park food cart recently installed in the historic Bethesda Terrace, avoided Community Board 8 when applying for its liquor license. The Parks Department is now responsible for generating 91% of all concession revenue from city agencies. "The Parks Department does whatever it wants," said an irate CB 8 member. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on Image to enlarge.

The concession, run by the people behind Fatty Crab, recently began selling alcohol, the highest priced items on the menu.

Manhattan

Pullcart, the Central Park food cart run by the folks behind Fatty Crab, is gearing up next week’s big Oktoberfest celebration in the park by readying the beer, wine and prosecco for patrons looking to take in the view at Bethesda Terrace.

But many members of Community Board 8 are trying to yank the liquor license from the pulled pork sandwich purveyor — saying its owners did an “end run” around them by getting its liquor license from the State Liquor Authority in August without making a formal application to the board, according to DNAinfo.

“Many of us would not have wanted to approve it,” CB 8’s parks committee co-chair Peggy Price said to her colleagues on Wednesday night, as opponents vented about Pullcart at the full board meeting.

The board acknowledges that Pullcart’s license was obtained legally — the owners notified the community board 30 days before submitting their application to the SLA — but many in the community board were incensed that they never got to vote on the application or give their input to the SLA.

So, they issued a resolution on Wednesday night to revoke and suspend immediately the cart’s license until “proper review” of it can take place.

CB 8 Parks Committee co-chair Barbara Rudder said that when she visited Pullcart before it began serving alcohol about a month ago, she was very concerned. “There was no contained space,” she said. “Do you really think everyone is going to have a drink and just sit there?”

No one on the board said they had visited the cart since it began selling alcohol.

Their resolution is only advisory, and all players — the board, Pullcart and the SLA — acknowledged that applicants don’t actually need to go in front of the board after submitting its 30-day notice.

Joseph Levey, a lawyer for Pullcart, said he contacted all six community boards that touch Central Park, and Community Board 8 was the only one that asked him to come to a meeting.

He said he went to the board three times and that each time many board members railed against the Parks Department for issuing the permit for the vendor in the first place — saying it would be an “eyesore” at Bethesda Terrace, which they fought so hard to preserve.

Members of the community board had previously voiced their distate for new upscale vendors in the park.

Each time Levey came, he said the board demanded more information, such as renderings (which he supplied) and then a floor plan, he said.

Although Levey, who represents several bars, usually tells his clients it’s in their best interest to come before community boards — even though they’re not legally required to — in this case, it seemed to him that board members had a “personal interest” to oppose their license since they were so opposed to the cart being there in the first place.

“It became pretty clear to me that this board had an intention to delay and delay until the season [for the seasonal permit] was over,” Levey said. “I thought it was pointless to come back because they were going to say no.”

The SLA said it would only take action to revoke a license if there was evidence of wrongdoing.

“We have to have proof there have been violations — serious violations,” said SLA spokesman Bill Crowley. “We don’t make those decision lightly.”

Crowley said that the SLA does “rely on a lot of good information from community boards” when deciding on whether to grant licenses, but noted that after an applicant gives the community board its 30-day notification, it doesn’t actually have to appear before the board.

“If the place is causing trouble, we’d certainly look into it,” Crowley added.

Pullcart is planning to hold its Oktoberfest on Oct. 1, which will cost $29 for all you can eat and drink from 1 to 6 p.m.

Eyesore.

Read More:

Community Board Fights Central Park Pullcart's Liquor License

DNAinfo - September 23, 2011 - By Amy Zimmer

Armed Robbery In Central Park

Manhattan

A man was robbed of his I-Pod by 5 male Hispanics inside Central Park yesterday at approximately 10 p.m, according to law enforcement sources. The armed robbery occurred between 59th Street to 61st Street near Fifth Avenue inside the park. No arrests have been made. No further information on the weapon used was available at this time.

This was the second Apple devise robbery in the park this week. On Wednesday, August 16, at 8:45 p.m, a 39-year-old man was robbed while riding a bike in the park near 102 Street and Cross Drive. Two men snatch his I-Phone from his hand. The perps fled on foot. The cyclist chased them and one of the assailants tripped and droped the phone. The cyclist recovered the phone but the robbers escaped. No injuries were reported.

On June 22nd, muggers beat a jogger carrying an iPad in Central Park. - Geoffrey Croft

Read More:

Alleged Central Park Muggers Beat Jogger Carrying an iPad

DNAinfo - June 22, 2011 - By Tom Liddy