Published December 11, 2019
WAKEFIELD — A 34-year-old man was killed yesterday in a tragic accident involving a company doing tree work in Greenwood.
Wakefield Police and Fire went to 37 Greenwood Street at approximately 11 a.m. on Tuesday for a report of a man who had been seriously injured while performing work for an independent tree company in a wooded area at a residence. Upon arrival, first responders found that the man had sustained traumatic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The identity of the man is being held pending positive identification and notification of his next of kin.
THIS GREENWOOD STREET property was the scene of a tragic accident yesterday morning. (Jennifer Gentile Photo)
According to Wakefield Police, there were two crews working on the property. One crew was cleaning inside and outside the home and the other was doing tree and landscape work on the site. The deceased was a member of the cleaning crew who was assisting the tree crew in taking down a tree. It appears that while he was on the ground pulling on a rope, the man fell and sustained a fatal head injury. Police said that it did not appear that he fell from a tree or that a tree fell on him.
Police encountered a language barrier during the investigation and at least one interpreter had to be called in to assist with translation. Some members of the crew will need to be reinterviewed, police said.
An ambulance was also called to the scene for a man experiencing chest pains.
Police said that the crew was from an independent tree service and was not a Wakefield company.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also been notified and will also be investigating the incident, along with Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
