Toronto parks officials, police investigating after falling branch kills man
Witnesses saw man throw himself across his wife to protect her as branch snapped
The city is investigating after a tree branch at Trinity Bellwoods Park broke and fell onto a man, killing him.
Matthew Cutler from the city's Parks, Forestry and Recreation office, said the office is working with police to investigate what happened.
Mayor John Tory expressed his condolences on behalf of the city to the family and friends of the man who died.
"The park's people are actively investigating, looking at the tree and the condition of the tree. There was no reason to believe the tree was in any condition that would cause an accident to occur," he said.
The man was French citizen in his 30s who was in Canada with his wife on a work permit.
Toronto Police Sgt. Scott Villers said the man and his wife were sitting under the tree in the popular park when the branch broke around 7:15 p.m. Friday.
Witnesses told police that the man threw himself over his wife to protect her. Villers said the man was struck in the head by the branch.
Witnesses said several people nearby stepped in to perform CPR on the man to try to revive him until paramedics arrived minutes later and took over. Their efforts were unsuccessful — the man was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m.
Michael Patterson was in the park waiting for a friend when he heard the tree branch snap. He said that by the time he got to where the branch broke, first responders were trying to resuscitate the man.
"It was a difficult scene. I saw the wife and tried to console her," he said. "I didn't really understand what was happening but I tried to remove her from what she was seeing."
Patterson said he stayed with the woman until police asked him to leave unless he was family.
He said that's when police must have informed the woman that her husband died because he heard her scream.
"I've never heard a scream like that before … the first responders did their best, but I hope I never hear a scream like that again."
"I'm sure they were just here in Trinity Bellwoods like anyone in Toronto would be, just trying to enjoy a Friday night, and it's an absolute tragedy," he said.
No clear reasons why branch broke
Villers said he's never seen anything like it in his 16 years of working with the police.
"It does appear to be a very tragic accident," he said. "I hope to God I never see this again."
Other park-goers were similarly shocked at the incident.
Ilene Shioguchi was at a picnic table with friends at the park when it happened right in front of them.
"It was so sad. The wife was screaming and crying and everyone at the park was watching," she said.
She added that the tree seemed healthy and there were a lot of green leaves on it.
Another park-goer remarked that there was no wind or other obvious factor that might have caused the branch to break.
"I can understand if it's wintertime with ice on the tree, but this is summertime and that's a healthy looking branch," said Arttanheru Tsesura, who was nearby when it happened.