Driver escapes with minor injuries after tree crushes car
A car was crushed by a tree on Bedford Road in Lincoln
By Juli McDonald
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LINCOLN, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A driver walked away with only minor injuries after a tree fell on his car in Lincoln, Massachusetts Tuesday afternoon.
With his medical bracelet still on his wrist, Paul Murphy returned to Bedford Road to find out where his crushed car had been towed. “I’m a night supervisor,” Murphy said. “I wanted to take a quick backroad to save some time and get to work on time today.”
He never ended up making it to work in Natick but had some pretty wild pictures to prove his excuse.
“I was coming down 25-30 mph and heard a crack like a branch broke. I saw branches and leaves on my left side. Instinctively thinking the tree is falling from the left I swerve to the right and that is when that hit me,” Murphy recalled. “Then the branches caved in the top of my vehicle. I’m suffocating on airbags. Then I gathered up my stuff, loaded my bags. Some guy opened up the rear door. I put the seat down and climbed out.”
That guy was another driver who’d been traveling behind him Tuesday afternoon. Murphy said the cuts on his chin and ankle were more from the airbag, but he agreed to a quick visit to the hospital as a precaution.
The Hudson, New Hampshire man told WBZ he’s just thankful his kids weren’t with him at the time, but as a Marine Corps veteran with a career in law enforcement, he said he’s dealt with far worse surprises.
Driver says “it’s blind luck”
“I would have to say it’s blind luck. I don’t know what I’ll have to do to get to Valhalla but if a tree can’t kill me, I don’t know what else is,” he joked.
It’s an unforgettable story, still, he wants to remember that blind luck, taking a chunk of the tree with him.
“I am going to take that piece with me. I’ll do something with it, carve it into something. A memento,” Murphy said.
And as he ran off with that reminder, of a day that could have changed his whole life, Murphy sure kept his sense of humor. One thing that won’t change: opting for this same route, to save some time.
“I’m definitely going to take the backroads again,” he said. “It’s so much easier than sitting on 95 in the heat!”
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