A cross-country runner from Parkland High School in Pennsylvania was critically injured when a tree came down on him during team practice in Allentown on Saturday morning. 69 News (WFMZ-TV) reported the incident on Monday, and 6abc Action News has since added more detail.
He was struck on the Little Lehigh Parkway path near Oxford and Park drives. According to 6abc, almost the entire tree had given way, though WFMZ described what hit him as a large branch. His teammates stayed with him and did what they could until medics reached him, and he had not regained consciousness by then. Allentown EMS gave him CPR on the path and restored his pulse and breathing before taking him to Lehigh Valley Children’s Hospital. His name has not been released.
“This was something that’s unprecedented,” said Mehmet Barzev, chief of Allentown EMS. Barzev told 6abc he believed the boy was being treated for “head and some spinal injuries,” and the station reported that hospital staff were watching him closely.
A nor’easter was bringing wind and rain to the Lehigh Valley that weekend. Neal Novak, a regular on the parkway, told 6abc: “We’ve been down in the park now for well over 30 years at the clubhouse and very seldom do we see trees collapse like that.”
The Parkland School District has declined to identify the student, pointing to privacy law. It did write to families on Sunday night about the injury, according to 6abc, which obtained the letter.
Fall is the heart of the high school cross-country season, and teams do much of their training on park paths and wooded trails like the parkway.
No update on the runner’s condition had been made public as of Tuesday.
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