2 Investigators: Could Deaths From Falling Trees Have Been Prevented?

December 5, 2011 12:00 AM " (CBS) -- A yearly camping trip turned tragic after a teenage boy was struck by a tree limb that crashed down on top of him. But he is not the only victim of rotted trees that fall.

CBS 2′s Dave Savini investigated the lack of proper tree inspections that is being blamed for causing deaths and injuries to people on roadways, walking paths and even at a golf course.

Sixteen-year-old Kyle Zuleg and his friend Tommy Harless were hit by a massive tree branch while playing flashlight tag in Will County’s Messenger Woods. Harless survived with numerous broken bones, but Zuleg was killed.

Jill Zuleg, Kyle’s mother, says the Will County Forest Preserve District failed to detect the damaged tree prior to her son’s death.

“It was a branch that extended out from the tree,” Zuleg says. “It had been cracked for over a year.”

For nearly a year after Zuleg’s death, the remaining tree was left standing, even though it reportedly had two more massive decaying stems.

“My son was killed and they didn’t do more,” Kyle’s father, Matt Zuleg, says.

A tree specialist hired by the county said the remaining tree appeared fine, but an expert hired by the Zulegs went to the top of the tree and reported a significant amount of structural weakness. The investigation resulted in the tree finally being cut down. "

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