The killer in Central Park

@JenMac: Well, it is hard to say what is going on at the park. Many of those trees have been there since the park was first made so they are old. Perhaps the storm that blew through here last Thursday caused the limb to weaken and crack and finally fall. It was just unfortunate that somebody was in the path of the fallen limb.

@JenMac there was a death in the park during the winter as well, but what really can be done about falling branches which can be deadly? I have been thinking about it but there seems to be no other solution but to avoid walking in Central Park but dont think anybody is ready to abandon NYC's iconic patch of green just yet.

@Uptowngirl: I think the real solution is for, whoever is supposed to care for the trees, to go into the park, evaluate all trees, take notes as to which ones are good and bad. Then remove all those trees that are old or look like trouble.

Didn't the article kind of imply that it's always the quiet ones though? Like the trees that they thought were healthy ended up being the killers.

This is something that I've actually begun to worry about... I wonder why they don't send in some dudes with chainsaws to maintain these massively old trees. Jeez.

And there has to be some way to fix this problem. There has to be some way that the trees can be checked... I understand it would take a lot of man power, but a hundred pound branch just doesn't suddenly drop. There has to be some rotting involved, something that can be seen.

I agree with @hhusted, though I don't think entire trees have to be removed (probably not, anyway). My dad always maintained the huge oak in our yard with a chainsaw - you just get rid of the branches that aren't looking so hot before they drop on anyone's head.

And this situation is highly weird - a perfectly healthy tree branch just dropped? If that's really the case then this really is a freak accident... But I wouldn't be surprised if the parks department was just trying to cover for themselves say that the investigation in incomplete.

Nevermind... it seems that there are some trees deemed removable.

@BroadwayBK: It amazes me how many people in charge of something, always has an excuse for why it failed instead of admitting wrong doing or making a mistake. The people in charge of those trees just need to go in and do an evaluation to see what condition the limbs are in. Normally, a slight pull could give you some hint as to the condition of the limbs.

As for falling limbs, they do not fall for no reason. Something caused it. For every situation, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the law of physics. So for a branch to fall, either a storm came through and the wind was so strong that it cracked the limb enough so that it eventually gave way to a slight breeze and down it came. Or, someone could have been in the tree, seen the limb, started cutting, got interrupted on his radio, and forgot to finish the job.

Which theory do you folks believe better.

Yeah, it does seem a little weird that a perfectly healthy branch could come tearing down so quickly as to kill someone. Such a tragic story....

@everyone for such an incident to take place thrice in a calendar year is worrying to say the least ..something definitely has to be done by the Central Park Conservancy. they can't just ignore it by saying these are freak incidents.. a tree patrol that regularly inspects and maintains the trees must be already in place,perhaps they should post warning signs around the really old trees..

I bet some of this could be prevented if people were more proactive about what happens in their own neighborhoods. The people who have lived in one neighborhood a long time would probably be able to tell which trees are looking like they have problems, since they see them every day.

@DBlack People should keep a look out for these things - and complain about them for sure. But you would think after the first time this happened, someone whose job it is to keep up the park would've been on top of this problem...

@ajadedidealist You do have a point. And these days living is not as dangerous as it once was, so maybe we should just be grateful for that.

@NeverSleeps: People are lazy. Every movement undertaken by a paid employee is money out of the pocket of those paying the person. With the financial crisis that NYC is in right now, no department has the extra funds to have someone go into a park and perform extensive tests on something that just happened twice in a year. These are just coincidences. If such a situation had occurred every day, week, month, or several times a year, there would be a cause for concern. But two isolated incidents is not enough to warrant paying a large amount of money to investigate it. Like Ajadedidealist said, s*** happens.

I agree, life is dangerous. It's just that it's such a stupid way to die. All I can hope is that if I die from something other than old age / disease that it's a bit more glamourous than a rotten, old tree branch hitting me when I stopped to pull my underwear out of my butt during a run and I hate running . . . etc.

@JenMac: Yeah, that would be embarrassing. Although, if you were killed in the mishap, it would not be embarrassing for you. In reality, any kind of reason to die is stupid. If you die of old age is one thing. But most deaths are caused by ignorance, carelessness, lack of focus, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, abusiveness, lack of care for oneself, intolerance, and coincidence. In these cases, death could be avoided if the person showed more concern and alertness for his/her body, surroundings, conditions, and state of mind.

Granted, no one can anticipate a tree limb falling. So this can be ruled out. However, the blame for the occurrence still lies with someone. The question is who. It goes back to whomever is in charge of the trees. It is their responsibility for the upkeep of the trees and everything else in the park. So they should be blamed for anything that occurs in the park.

@NeverSleeps: That guy was immature and rude. To laugh at someone's misfortune is simply wrong. He really needs to grow up and get some manners.

@Ajadedidealist: I understand that. But there is a time and place for everything. If I was in pain and saw someone laugh at me, I'd be pissed off at the guy. Maybe even get in his face about it.

On the other hand, if someone saw someone in pain, and he laughed about it behind closed doors where no one could see him, that is different.

@hhusted I have to agree with you on this one I would probably react the same way as well.

@Uptowngirl: Thank you. It is a matter of showing proper manners and knowing the right time to react.

@ajadedidealist I think it's okay to laugh in order not to weep when it comes to your own pain, but as for other people's I think hhusted has a point - it's immature to say the least. In high school when that sort of thing happened around me I didn't really appreciated it (does that mean I was always so mature?). Anyway, looking back I can cut teenagers some slack on the matter. But these days I think people's reactions to tragic stories really says a lot about what kind of a person they are, and laughing at tragedy doesn't speak well for an adult.

@NeverSleeps And it's probably a big warning sign as far as any men one dates!

@Uraniumfish EXACTLY.

Good point, @uraniumfish! And I'm not saying I'd laugh personally - far from it! - I'm just trying to explain how someone, especially an immature/young person, might have a reaction we consider tasteless and callous without actually being, for lack of a better term, a "bad person."

@Ajadediedealist: A callous or ill-mannered person does not have to be a bad person. Could be he just wasn't trained right.

@hhusted Trained like a dog? I think there comes a certain age when people have to take responsibility for their own actions. Just because an adult man didn't learn how to act as a child doesn't mean he shouldn't have it figured out by now!

@JenMac true, sometimes laughter betrays a deep discomfort. Depends how one does it. In the moment, you cna probably tell the difference, no?

True, @jenmac. A banana peel is a classic comedy trope for a reason! Who was the first banana peel guy, by the way? Was it Charlie Chaplin?

@JenMac You make a fair point. But I still say the dude who laughed at the death by tree branch was just a jerk. An immature one.

@NeverSleeps I totally agree

@BroadwayBK: If you're not trained to show proper manners when young, how will you know unless someone teaches you at some point. Of course, there are some things that people can pick up on their own, but based on research, I have found that when it comes to behavior, if someone is not trained to act a certain way, they won't until someone comes along and trains them.

@hhusted - I think that BroadwayBk was more referring to the use of the word "training," which is more commonly applied to dogs, than to people. It is an odd word choice. We tend to use things like "Learned behavior" and "adapt" to talk about humans, whereas I at least have never heard about humans being "trained" (other than humans "training" for marathons, etc)

@ajadedidealist Yes, thank you. Word choice is everything sometimes. Or all the time?

@BroadwayBK All the time, is my vote.

"Training" the poor kids sounds like they get smacked with a rolled up newspaper if they pee on the carpet.

It is kosher to say "potty training," though.

Man oh man @JenMac I could never get away with that .. I am married to an alpha male and there is no way that I could 'train' him to do anything

Why would you want someone you had to "train" anyway? It's so bizarre.

@JenMac I can think of an exboyfriend who would have seriously bristled and left me if I ever used any such language about him. Which seems right to me. I wouldn't respect a man who lets a woman talk about "training" him.

@Uraniumfish ditto

I would never date a guy who could be "trained" to do anything, either. And I expect that my significant other would feel the same way about me!