Buckhead man crawls out of home after tree crashes on house

ATLANTA — A Buckhead man said he had a tree specialist and an Atlanta arborist come look at his tree before it destroyed his neighbor's house.

Channel 2's Craig Lucie lives nearby and heard a loud snap as he was getting in his car to head to work Tuesday morning.

Lucie looked over and saw the tree come crashing down. He said it sounded like the home exploded the crash was so loud and other neighbors came outside to see what it was.

"Clearly I'm not supposed to be dead and if you saw my bedroom where I was sitting, it's amazing I crawled out of there," Joey Fargar told Lucie.

Fargar said he was sitting on the edge of his bed when he heard a loud crack and then suddenly boards started to fly in his bedroom.

He said he found a small opening near where his door had ripped off to escape.

"So then I started crawling out here like this, and here I am in my house with my tree," Fargar said.

After Lucie saw the tree fall, he jumped in his car and quickly drove to the home off Northside Drive near Collier Road.

He was about to go inside on one side of the home, when he looked over and saw Fargar come out from under the downed tree with his head bleeding.

He and a neighbor helped Farger him and called 911.

When paramedics arrived, Fargar had to go to the hospital where doctors put staples in his head to treat the gash.

Fargar and another neighbor, Ed Collister, said they've been worried about the tree for a couple of years, but the city wouldn't let them cut it down.

"We put a permit (request) in to have the tree removed, and the permit was denied," Collister said.

Fargar said he also called an Atlanta Arborist.

"I had an arborist come out, and the arborist said the tree is healthy ... we will not allow you to cut it down," explained Fargar.

Collister said he also had a tree specialist come about a year ago, and it's been checked several times in the past three years.

"I don't know what to do other than what we've done with the steps we've taken. We called a professional tree company and a city arborist," Collister said.

Now both neighbors are speaking with their insurance companies.

WSBTV