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Falling Bryant Park Branch Gives 60-Year-Old A Dozen Stitches
By
Garth Johnston
Published May 30, 2012
Modified May 30, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published May 30, 2012
Modified May 30, 2012
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Illicit second-hand smoke isn't the only thing you need to worry about when enjoying New York City's fine park system. Falling tree limbs remain a danger! Just ask 60-year-old Queens man David Cooper, who received a dozen stitches last night after a branch in Bryant Park came down on his noggin.
Cooper was walking through the park yesterday around 6:30 p.m. when the sky suddenly darkened and the winds picked up. “The next thing I knew I was whacked with a huge branch in my head. I was bleeding all over myself. I didn’t know what had happened,” Cooper told the Post from his Bayside home. Luckily some good samaritans pitched in and held a napkin to his head until an ambulance arrived.
After the incident, Parks officials closed the park early due to the weather. According to Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates about 12 people are injured each year due to falling tree limbs. And those incidents can be fatal— just ask the parents of 6-month-old killed by a branch at the Central Park Zoo two years ago—which is why the city keeps trying to keep track of them and prune sickly trees (from pictures it looks like Parks were cutting branches in the Park as recently as March). After all, [four-year-old spoiler alert] nobody wants The Happening to start happening.
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Garth Johnston
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