LAKELAND, Fla. — A woman, who has not been identified, was in shock after a huge oak tree uprooted and fell on her car as she was arriving for work.
Good Samaritans ran to help the woman who was arriving at work to a clean a home in the Casa Loma neighborhood in South Lakeland.
“Scared to death scared to death this poor lady got out of her car didn’t know a tree was coming hit her across the head she was lucky to live through that it could’ve happened to anybody,” Scott Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said his three-year-old daughter and wife were just outside playing near the tree an hour before it came crashing down. He said there was no wind, no storms in the area, and clear blue skies.
“How does a tree just fall over? It makes me sick, sick,” Fitzgerald said.
He can’t imagine how lucky his family is and the woman that survived.
"When she came back and talked to my wife she didn’t even really remember what happened,” Fitzgerald said. “She crawled out through the passenger side and that’s when the paramedics showed up and took her.”
Fitzgerald said the woman was treated and released at a local hospital and came back later to collect some items from her car.
“She was in shock,” Fitzgerald said.
According to neighbors, the tree company told them they have warned the Casa Loma Homeowner’s Association about the dangerous tree for several years but no action was taken. The tree uprooted an entire slab of cement and curbs, the inside rotten.
Fitzgerald hopes all of the giant oaks on the property get checked out before someone gets seriously injured.
“Get a professional arborist to come out trim them properly and let’s get them out of here,” Fitzgerald said.
The vice president for the HOA told ABC Action News “no comment” and hung up. We have not heard back from the manager of the Casa Loma HOA.
