SOUTH BEND — A falling tree branch caused the death of a 60-year-old South Bend man Friday, a day after it fell 30 feet onto his head while he was working for a local tree service company.
Mardoqueo Pineda, of the 600 block of South Lake Street, was reportedly working for Niles Township-based Kachur Tree Service about 11:30 a.m. Thursday when the accident occurred in the backyard of a home in the 1300 block of East Miner Street.
Pineda was found unconscious with a pool of blood around him when emergency personnel arrived, police said. He was taken to Memorial Hospital with a head wound. His time of death was 10:45 a.m.
St. Joseph County deputy coroner Randy Magdalinski said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Pineda suffered a skull fracture, which caused a subdural hematoma.
Magdalinski said the tree branch was about eight inches in diameter and about two feet long.
It is unclear if Pineda was wearing a helmet. No more information regarding the incident was available Friday.
Bob Dittmer, public information officer for Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the agency received a report on the case Friday afternoon.
Dittmer said the case does qualify for an investigation, and an IOSHA investigator was en route to the scene late Friday.
IOSHA is required to be notified if one or more employees are hospitalized for three or more days or in the case of a fatality.
An employee who answered the phone at Kachur Tree Service, 316 Fulkerson Road, Friday morning said she was unaware of the situation. A message left for the company’s owner was not returned.
No one was home Friday afternoon at the residence on Miner Street on the city’s northeast side. A large tree was visible in the backyard; several limbs were cut from it.
Staff writer Tom Moor:
