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28 May, 2016 14:54

New branch of terror: Police officer downed by fallen tree (VIDEO)

New branch of terror: Police officer downed by fallen tree (VIDEO)

A New Jersey police officer found out the hard way that the bark is definitely worse than the bite when he was taken down by a fallen tree. The surprise attack caught the officer off guard leaving him with a broken wrist and 13 stitches.

Officer Douglas Faber was moving a fallen tree from a road in the appropriately named Ringwood on Friday when the accident happened, according to North Jersey.

Luckily, he heard the crack of the bark before it fell giving him a split second to run out of its path, but Faber wasn’t quite quick enough and the tree hit him as it fell.

Despite getting up quickly, he was left with a broken wrist and 13 stitches.

“A couple seconds one way or the other, it could have been a lot worse” Chief Joseph Walker told North Jersey. “It’s a call no chief wants to get.”

Walker said that fallen branches are a hazard to officers, saying he had to dodge a tree during a recent hurricane.

“People don’t realize this is another danger of police work,” Walker explained, although he did not say whether any criminal charges had been brought against the tree.

Despite the current tension between the tree community and police, trees have previously assisted officers in catching criminals.

In March, police would have had no idea a man in Chicago was driving while under the influence of alcohol had a helpful tree not alerted them to the issue.

Let’s hope a peace can be brokered, the last thing we want is angry trees on the rampage.

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