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Man Killed by Falling Tree Limb in Central Park

By Serena Solomon | February 25, 2010 4:55pm | Updated on February 26, 2010 7:16am
Police wait for the medical examiner to show up after a man was killed by a falling tree branch in Central Park on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.
Police wait for the medical examiner to show up after a man was killed by a falling tree branch in Central Park on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.
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DNAinfo/Jennifer Glickel

By Serena Solomon and Jennifer Glickel

DNAinfo Reporter/Producers

CENTRAL PARK — A man was struck and killed by a falling tree limb as he was walking through Central Park during a snowstorm Thursday, police said.

Elmaz Qyra, 56, from Brooklyn, was struck by the branch from an elm tree near "Literary Way" in the park on E. 67th Street, near Fifth Avenue, according to police.

A 911 caller told authorities around 3:30 p.m that the man was sprawled on the ground with severe wounds to his head, officials told the New York Times. The man was declared dead at the scene, according to police.

Several large branches and trees fell near the East side of the park around the time the man was struck by a branch, according to the FDNY.

A tree fell on a city bus on Fifth Avenue during a snow storm on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.
A tree fell on a city bus on Fifth Avenue during a snow storm on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010.
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DNAinfo/Jennifer Glickel

Employees from the Central Park Conservatory drove around the park in a car and instructed people with a loud speaker to leave the grounds for safety reasons around 5:30 p.m.

One falling tree hit a city bus along Fifth Avenue near 68th Street shortly before 4 p.m. The bus was moving at the time but no one was injured, according to police at the scene. The FDNY said another car was also struck by a branch.

Fifth Avenue was closed between 65th and 70th Streets while the tree leaning against the bus was cut up with a chainsaw and branches were removed from the roadway.

The park incident is similar to one in July when a Google engineer was hit in the head by a rotten tree branch near 63rd Street. The man, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, was knocked unconscious and temporarily put into a coma, but he survived.

A man was reportedly killed when a branch weighed down with rain and snow fell on his head in Central Park.
A man was reportedly killed when a branch weighed down with rain and snow fell on his head in Central Park.
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Flickr/ennuipoet