Lyman Kiser and his neighbors are glad everyone is safe after a large tree branch crashed through the sunroof and windshield of his car at Roanoke Park in the Five Points neighborhood.
The branch fell onto Kiser’s Honda Accord on Saturday morning.
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“I’m glad no one was hurt,” Kiser said. “That could have been somebody’s life.
“The branch is sticking right in the driver’s seat.”
Kiser couldn’t believe the damage he saw to his car.
“I think the car is totaled,” Kiser said. “The front windshield went in. [The branch] hit the dash.
“If someone was sitting in the car, I think they would have died.”
Raleigh crews plan to remove the tree from the park on Friday after residents have reported three separate incidents. The city said crews have pruned the tree several times in the last few years.
The city has put caution tape around the playground of the park at 1500 Cherokee Drive in Raleigh. There are also warning signs about the danger from above.
Mother Christiana Hetherington visited the park Tuesday with her son Harry.
“We’re trying to respect the caution tape and not get in the way,” Hetherington said.
Kelsey Dougherty is a mother of three children younger than 5 years old.
“We live at this park after day care and after work,” Kelsey Dougherty said. “I saw the branches actively falling, and there was no way I could come down here with my kids.”
Lyman said the park is typically busy.
“This place is always crawling,” Lyman said. “This is the playground to be if you’re a toddler.”
The park is a haven for Dougherty and her family.
“They’d have no idea there’s a danger looming above them,” Dougherty said of her children. “As a mom, I wouldn’t necessarily look up either.”
Residents can submit a request for a city-owned tree to be removed on the city's Urban Forestry website.