2 people injured after large tree falls on car in Douglas
DOUGLAS - Two people were injured after a large tree fell on a car in Douglas Thursday afternoon. The car was traveling on South Street when the tree fell.
Witnesses say it was a husband and wife in the car. The driver was severely injured and had to be removed from the car by the passenger before police and fire arrived. They were taken to UMass Trauma Center.
Neighbor Danielle Patterson ran outside to see the significant damage and electrical wires all around the car. "It looked like a pretty bad scene," said Patterson. "It did not look good."
She says a frantic husband and wife were helping each other out of the car. The man had head injuries.
"Heard the noise from inside the house, it was like a big loud boom and then we came out of the house, and we could hear somebody screaming 'help, help, help, I think I'm dying,'" Patterson said.
One trunk of the huge tree landed on the front windshield and crushed it. Another part completely smashed in the back of car.
The tree also hit part of Katherine Thomas' house, where she was sleeping. While first responders are investigating exactly how and why the tree fell, neighbors say the tree looked like it was rotting for a while.
"The unfortunate thing is that tree was flagged to come down three years ago when I bought this house and then they took the red flag off and they never cut it down," Thomas said.
The road will be closed until utility crews restore power. The Douglas building commissioner says Katherine Thomas' house is safe to stay in.