Tree Accident Victim Identified

The Marblehead man injured Tuesday when his vehicle was struck by a falling tree on Humphrey Street is Arnold Bergman, 61, Swampscott police said.

He was listed in fair condition at Massachusetts General Hospital Wednesday afternoon.

A tree fell on his SUV while it was traveling toward Lynn on Humphrey Street Tuesday afternoon about 2:30. 

The man was stunned by the tree falling on the vehicle's roof and hood, according Swampscott fire and 

This was the second time since Saturday that a tree had fallen on a vehicle in Swampscott.

The first falling tree fell on a house and a parked vehicle in the driveway at 57 Buena Vista St. on Saturday afternoon about the same time as Tuesday's falling tree. 

Then on Wednesday morning a tree, 18-inches around, fell and blocked traffic at Humphrey and Salem Streets.

On Tuesday, across from the Bertram House, on Humphrey Street, a part of the tree may have come through the vehicle's sunroof and struck the driver, said Capt. John Quinn.

The passenger, a woman, took control of the vehicle's steering wheel from the passenger's seat, and, reaching her leg over to the brake pedal, brought the vehicle to a stop, the fire captain said.

The car came to a stop about 1/10 of a mile away at the intersection of Humphrey and Cedar Hill Terrace. 

When Swampscott firefighters arrived a Swampscott police officer had stabilized the man, the fire captain said.

Firefighters placed a brace on his neck and backboard below him before helping medics place him in an ambulance.

The injured man was conscious, the fire captain said.

The tree looked like a maple and was about 24-inches around. It was growing several feet off the sidewalk among dense vegetation including vines at the bottom of a ledge-filled hill.