# Homeowner Dies after Falling from Tree - Hit by Branch



## Buckeye_Jim (May 1, 2005)

Just heard about this one tonight.

Here's the link, http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20050424/lo_wews/2684624

but I'll quote:

_A Parma Heights [Ohio] man was killed Friday [April 22] when a tree limb fell on him. 
Michael Schmidt, 47, fell from a tree in his back yard on Oakwood Drive, police said.
When he fell, a 10-inch thick branch landed on his chest.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he later died._

I couldn't find anything else online about it. Very sad.

Not too much to learn from this report, but thought I'd report it.

I will say, apart from this poor fellow's accident, which I really don't know anything about, that due to recent storm damage in my town, a lot of homeowners are trying to fix their own tree problems. I notice the cut-from-a-ladder method seems to be very popular. So much can go wrong.

A fatality like the one above gets a small blurp in the local paper. I wonder how many serious injuries short of dying there are among the homeowner popluation that tries to handle an involved tree issue on their own.


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## MasterBlaster (May 1, 2005)

I wonder how it "fell" on him.


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## Buckeye_Jim (May 1, 2005)

Yeah, I'm not sure. Maybe he came down with it. I guess you don't need to fall too far for it to be real bad for you if you have a big piece of wood coming down on top of you.


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## MasterBlaster (May 1, 2005)

Ten inches?


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## begleytree (May 1, 2005)

maybe a hanger he was knocking loose? Sad.
-Ralph


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## Newfie (May 2, 2005)

MasterBlaster said:


> Ten inches?




I think that would be plenty big enough to kill someone. I know I wouldn't want 300-400 pounds dropped out of tree onto my chest after I fell out of the tree.

I often wonder why they (homeowners) leave the ladder in the tree for months at a time? Seems like they are just inviting disaster for a little one to come along and satisfy their curiosity.


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## Lumberjack (May 2, 2005)

My dad is currently watching a ladder propped up on a tree limb. We speculate that they are going to drop the top out.

My dad says the ladder has been there a coupla weeks. 

I wouldnt want 400 pounds dropped on my chest from any height, excluding the fall. I imagine that 400 pounds falling 10 feet is quite a lot of kenetic energy, dont feel like figuring it up.


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