8-year-old struck by tree limb at Atlanta school

ATLANTA — An 8-year-old was hospitalized after being struck by a tree limb at a northwest Atlanta school.

The incident happened at Morris Brandon Elementary School on Thursday afternoon. Atlanta Public School spokesman Stephen Alford said students were outside when the boy was struck by a limb from a "sizable tree."

Channel 2's Erica Byfield learned the boy is a 2nd grade student. He was said to be alert when the school nurse rode with him in an ambulance to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.

"There is nothing more important than the safety and security of our students and it's unfortunate this happened," Alford said.

Alford said APS is waiting to hear from the hospital about the child's condition. He said the student is expected to be OK.

To ensure student safety, APS officials had an arborist examine all of the trees on the school grounds. Until it is deemed safe, children will not be allowed to play outside.

"It is a freak accident. You can't protect kids from that," parent Holly Kelly said.

A PTA president told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri that she believes the school has checked the safety of the trees within the past year.

"It's unfortunate because you hope nothing bad happens to your kid when you pick them up, you just hope they're safe and sound," she said.

WSBTV