High Winds: Tree Falls, Crushes Man To Death

INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP, MI — A 36-year-old man is dead after the wind knocked down a tree and it fell onto him, breaking his back, police said. According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, deputies and Independence Township Fire Department arrived at the scene just before noon Friday to find the man trapped beneath a large hardwood tree that had broke and fallen. He was reportedly working when the accident happened.

“(He) was working on his employer’s property using a walk behind skid steer was spreading mulch and leaves to the back of the property when a large section of a tree broke free landing on the victim’s back,” police said Friday. “The impact forced his head forward into the steering levers of the machine and pinned him. The levers went into the subjects head contributing to his death.”

Officers removed the man’s body from underneath the tree and an autopsy is scheduled.

Authorities said the cause of his death is wind related. Gusts up to 65 mph blasted metro Detroit Friday, prompting a High Wind Advisory across the region.

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