Massive tree falls on dad-to-be at gender reveal party
MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania family was having a gender reveal party to celebrate their pregnancy when a tree fell on the father-to-be.
Zack and Joscelyn Muellerleile had just shared the news of their baby boy with a handful of folks while standing in the shade of a silver maple tree in their yard. But then, someone heard a crack. Broken off at the trunk, part of a huge tree sits in the Muellerleile's front yard.
"I heard my father-in-law yell, 'It's gonna fall,' and you dind't have time to react," Zack told CBS Pittsburgh. "Before I knew it, I was sitting on the ground with a tree across my lap."
"It's not the way I wanted the day to go," he added. "It was our gender reveal (party). I'm 23 and I've never had a broken bone in my life."
Zack broke his ankle and fibula. But somehow, no one else was hurt or trapped by the tree.
With the help of a floor jack and chainsaw, Zack's family freed him.
"There was a really big limb that was inches above my head," Zack said. "It's kind of unbelievable that it didn't break my neck, or just come down and kill me."
Zack says he owes his life to a Jeep that was parked nearby, which prevented the branch from completely crushing him.
"The Jeep is what kept some of the weight off me," he said. "I'll probably be laid up for the rest of summer."
The Muellerleile's say utility crews recently cut away some of the branches of the tree, but they're not sure that it had anything to do with what happened.