By Joe Anuta
The family of a 30-year-old pregnant woman killed by a falling tree Sunday was making funeral arrangements in the wake of her untimely death.
“Right now, we’re just trying to investigate to find out what happened, how something like this could occur,” Anthony Como, a friend of the family, said Monday outside of the victim’s Parsons Boulevard apartment.
Ying Yi Li was sitting on a bench near Kissena Park’s picturesque lake at about 6:25 p.m. when the trunk of a 50-foot oak broke off about 8 feet from the ground and crushed her, police and the city Parks Department said. She was six months pregnant.
“The incident involving a falling tree Sunday in Kissena Park was a tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family,” said Parks spokesman Arthur Pincus, who vowed to look into the incident.
Li had been married to Aleksandar Dikov, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves about 10 years her junior, for a little more than a year, according to Como. The happy couple met at the Flushing YMCA and lived with Dikov’s parents.
On Sunday, Dikov paid an emotional visit to the accident site where, dressed in his military uniform, he laid down some flowers.
Days later, Li’s father arrived in Queens from China to help with the funeral arrangements.
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe that happened,” said neighbor Christina Leib when informed of the tragedy. “They were always together.”
Arborist Carsten Glaeser, also vice president of the Kissena Park Civic Association, said the stump appeared to be about 60 percent rotten.
He, along with state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and a nonprofit called New York City Park Advocates, called for an end to the mayor’s Million Trees Program, which seeks to plant more greenery around the city. They suggested that the money for the program should instead be spent on maintaining existing foliage.
“A top-to-bottom review is needed of how trees in highly used parkland are managed,” Glaeser said. “I think the Parks model is complaint-driven.”
As an example, Glaeser said the day after the Kissena Park death a huge limb fell onto a walking path near the site of the accident.
“If it fell and hit me on the head, there would be serious health implications,” he said.
Monitoring trees is not a simple task, said the arborist, who specializes in assessing trees in urban environments.
Glaeser said it would be difficult to eyeball a tree like the 70-year-old oak and determine if it was rotten, but inspectors could have looked for clues like decayed matter on the trunk that might have led to more serious investigations.
For example, if an arborist suspects a tree might be rotting from the inside out, he or she can use a mallet to tap on the trunk and listen for the sound of a telltale hollowness.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
