Tree branch falls on woman in San Francisco park, causes severe injuries

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A chainsaw tore up the large tree limb that suddenly came crashing down on a mother at a popular San Francisco park. That woman is in the hospital with life threatening injuries.

Sky7 HD was over the scene at Washington Square Park in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood Friday afternoon, shortly after the tree limb fell on the woman.

As a city worker cut apart the massive tree branch. Police officers collected the bags left on the bench by the woman who was hit.

"The branch fell and we believe hit her in the head and when we arrived she was in and out of consciousness," said San Francisco police Capt. David Lazar.

She was sitting on the bench watching her two children on the playground. They were uninjured. She was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital with life threatening injuries.

According to the fire department, she was bleeding from a head wound. A neighbor said she's horrified at this accident, but she's not surprised.

"I think it is always a matter of time and wind. These branches have been falling off, just takes a windy day for a branch to come loose," said neighbor Katherine Dawson.

Just before the tree branch was cut up, city workers took measurements of the limb. It was 19 inches around.

The recreation and park director of operations says it's been six years since these trees were evaluated.

"Looking at the tree itself we've seen it has moisture content and that the wood is very healthy," said Dennis Kern of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

This is not the first time a branch has injured or even killed someone in the city. In 2008, a woman was killed in Stern Grove by a falling limb.

As crews were cleaning up the accident scene Friday they noticed another broken branch on the same tree, so they called in a cherry picker to cut it down.