Teen Struck By Tree In North Canaan, Flown To Hospital: Report

NORTH CANAAN, CT – For the third time in 18 months a child and or teenager was injured while being struck by a falling tree. The latest incident occurred Wednesday morning when an 18-year-old male was struck by a tree at 8:58 a.m. on Hollow Brook Road in North Canaan, Litchfield County Dispatch confirmed to Patch.

The victim's identity and his current condition have not yet been revealed. According to News 8, the victim was flown to Hartford Hospital via a Life Star helicopter. Fire crews and paramedics also responded to the road.

The incident is not the first of this nature to occur in Connecticut this year. In February, a 10-year-old North Granby girl was struck by a falling tree at McLean Game Refuge in Granby. Police at the time said Katie O'Neill was hiking with four other children and two adults as part of a birthday party when a tree fell onto the path as she passed beneath.

A GoFundMe account was set up to assist the O'Neill family, which has raised $25,425 as of Wednesday afternoon, exceeding the page's $25,000 goal.

In January, Patch received a letter from the mother of a 16-year-old East Haven teen who was critically injured while mowing his lawn on July 27, 2017.

"A 30-foot tree in our yard uprooted and fell on Nick, trapping him underneath it," Sue Vessicchio wrote in a letter to Patch. "My husband who was coming home, and myself, who was inside the house at the time, heard a loud crash and ran outside to find Nick pinned under that huge tree."

Vessicchio said her son sustained several bodily injuries and an anoxic brain injury, due to lack of oxygen from cardiac arrest.

One factor that could have contributed to these instances is a large number of aging trees across the state that are either dead or dying.

According to the Hartford Courant, it is currently unclear whether tree falls in the last year are worse than in normal years, however experts warn that factors such as drought, aging, large storms and invasive insects have created an increased risk to the public of trees falling on roads, homes and other areas of local towns.

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