Tree trimmer falls to his death in Muttontown, police say

A tree trimmer working in Muttontown on Monday fell 30 feet to his death after two tree limbs snapped, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

The death happened on Woodstock Court at about 4:15 p.m. As the tree trimmer, later identified as 32-year-old Jose Hernandez-Fuentes, of Hempstead, was trimming a tree, "a limb and support limb both snapped," and he fell, the department wrote in a news release issued early Tuesday.

The limbs in question were both the one he was cutting and the one he was standing on, according to Det. Lt. Scott E. Skrynecki, the department's chief spokesman.

Hernandez-Fuentes suffered a "severe injury" — specifics weren't disclosed — and he was declared dead at the scene, the release said.

He was working for T & M Greencare Inc. of Freeport, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has opened an investigation into the case, Matthew Delpezzo, the agency's assistant area director, told Newsday. A phone number listed for the company was not working Tuesday afternoon.

Under the law, OSHA's investigation must be done within six months, Delpezzo said. There is also a police homicide squad investigation into the death that is unfinished, the release said.

The nationwide fatality rate is 110 per 100,000 tree trimmers and pruners, about 30 times greater than the average of all industries, according to a 2023 article in the Tree Care Industry Association magazine.

In 2020, OSHA concluded: "The fatality and injury rates for tree trimmers and pruners are extraordinarily high, much higher than the rate in most industries."

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.