WILLIAMS BAY — A 61-year-old woman was killed Thursday when a tree branch fell on her as she was walking along the shore path in Williams Bay.
Jane Westmas, Darien, a retired Traver School teacher, was walking along the shore path with her adult son, Jason, in the Conference Point area at around 2 p.m. when the accident occurred. Creekside Tree Service, Crystal Lake, Ill., was trimming a tree. As they were trimming a branch fell onto Westmas.
Williams Bay Police arrived on the scene and performed first aid, and shortly there after Medix arrived on the scene and also provided assistance.
Westmas was transported to Mercy Medical Center where she was pronounced dead by medical staff.
Williams Bay Police Chief Robert Pruessing said he didn't believe there were any barriers or caution flags warning pedestrians of the tree work.
Three men were reportedly working for the tree service.
"I think what they had was three people on scene and one guy was supposed to be pedestrian control," Pruessing said.
Pruessing said Jane and Jason had parked downtown and were planning on walking the shorepath.
After the accident, police questioned all the employees of the tree service and Jason. Pruessing said the police will not be perusing this as a criminal matter.
"Pretty much everything was explored. Everyone was questioned with what they saw and what they did," Pruessing said.
How can someone go for a walk and be killed from a tree service's work. I mean if there was no warning of the work being done......? I was not there but this seems like an odd occurrence. I feel sorry for the family and hope the tree service was not negligent.
It was a terrible thing to happen to someone. Thank you Mark for your concerns. It seems to me that something like this should have been prevented. i know it's too late now, but I hope that tree services everywhere are aware that this happened so they can take more precautions.
Kara
Madison
May 20, 2012 | 04:40 PM
One paper reported that a worker called out to warn the two. The police seem to have questioned them? It just still seems to be such an unusual event. Peace for all involved and learning too.
mark
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