A father is speaking out after the tragic death of his 4-year-old son. The young child died after a tree fell on him at a San Diego play park.
Father Cathal Kerr had been at the park with 7-year-old Charlie and 4-year-old Ronan. That's when a large tree branch from an eucalyptus tree fell on them. While Kerr managed to push his eldest son out of the way, the tree branch collapsed on the 4-year-old.
"My love for him is just so immense, so immense still. I miss him every second of the day," he told CBS 8. "There's not really a second that goes by that he's not on my mind."
The father confessed to not being quick enough to save his young son. "It just happened so fast, you know, I got my hands on Ronan, and next thing I remember, I woke up on the ground," Kerr told the outlet.
The father refused emergency assistance as he tried to save his youngest son.
"I did not want to go in there, but four or five firefighters literally had to pin me down and strap me to the gurney, and put me in the ambulance," he told the outlet. Ultimately, Kerr sustained a traumatic brain injury as well as a fractured nose, bruised ribs, and an injured leg. But his son died from his injuries related to the tree branch.
Tree Branch Falls On Child
Kerr's wife recalled her son's final moments in the hospital.
"We spent a week in the hospital. We didn't leave his side. We never left the hospital," she continued. "He was on life support. He had the tubes, he had wires, he had things all in him, so I couldn't even really touch and hug my boy."
Kerr regularly replays that day at the park in his head. He never thought a tree branch would fall.
"This pain is just unbearable, and if we could just save another family from having to go through this, it'll be worth it," Kerr told the outlet. "I think it's natural to second-guess your actions and your movements that day, but it never crossed my mind in a million years that this would happen. It's a park. It's supposed to be safe. It's where you take your family to go play."
The family is suing the city over the park. Their attorney, Bibi Fell, weighed in on the tree death.
"They are not native to California, and when planted in irrigated parks, they rot, decay and their large limbs can come crashing down," Fell said. "This particular tree showed signs of danger that should have been obvious to the City and its contractors. This lawsuit seeks to hold the City accountable for its failure to maintain and monitor the trees in our parks, which should be a safe place for San Diego families."
