Woman Dies Instantly When Huge Trees Falls on Her in Freak Accident at New York City Swimming Pool
The woman was hit on the head by massive falling tree, witnesses said.
A New York City woman died instantly when a massive tree fell into a swimming pool, where she was floating on an inflatable raft, authorities said.
Donna Douglas, 59, lived at the River Terrace Apartments in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where the huge tree toppled into her building's pool on Monday afternoon.
"She was dead instantly," building resident Mike Gallo told WABC-TV. "Even if EMS was here on the spot, they couldn't resuscitate her. She got hit in the head pretty hard."
A 72-year-old woman was also seriously injured, but she is expected to recover, authorities said.
A neighbor said she witnessed the tree falling.
"I've never felt so helpless in my life. I'm beating myself up. Maybe I should have climbed the fence or something, but there was like a 20-foot drop," Jay Berg told WCBS-TV.
"We saw the tree in the pool, two women walking around dazed, and the woman who passed away, she was laying on a float, a raft, and her face was in the water," Berg said.
Douglas swam on a daily basis during her lunch break since she worked from home, her devastated domestic partner of 20 years, Gabe Gonzalez, 70, told The New York Post. Douglas worked in the accounting department of a law firm for 18 years. Gonzalez said he was on his way home from playing softball on Long Island when he received a phone call from his and Douglas's building's doorman, who told him there had been an accident and to go to the pool when he arrived home.
“When I got there, I saw all the police. I went back down to the pool, and I was crushed,” Gonzalez told the newspaper.
"I am heartbroken," Gonzalez wrote on Facebook in the wake of Douglas's death. "I will miss this lovely bright beautiful smart woman!! Donna you’re the best thing to happen to me I’ll love you forever."