The limb that fell on a hotdog vendor next to the Museum of Natural history earlier this month was from a tree that had been inspected just days earlier, according to the city Parks Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pin oak at West 77th Street and Central Park West stands among a grove of trees outside the museum in Theodore Roosevelt Park\u00a0\u2014 and next to a row of food vendors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis park was inspected in early September and there was no indication that the tree required further inspection or visual defects spotted prior to the branch falling,\u201d a Parks Department spokesman said.<\/p>\n
People walk past a tree that split apart and injured one person near the American Museum of Natural History on Sept. 11. Leonardo Munoz for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tree is under Parks jurisdiction, and either forestry crews or a contractor would handle routine pruning,\u201d the spokesman said. \u201cIf a defect was identified, which it was not, forestry staff would have inspected and addressed the concern as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tree was last pruned in October 2017, \u201cas part of routine pruning by a contractor,\u201d the spokesman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The number of trees the city inspected fell 33% from 88,000 in fiscal year 2025 to 59,000 in FY 2026, which ended on June 30, according to the Parks Department spokesman.<\/p>\n
The limb broke just after noon on Sept. 11 and fell on the unidentified vendor at a Nathan\u2019s Hot Dog cart.<\/p>\n
The FDNY confirmed that it rushed a patient who had been struck by a tree to Lenox Hill Hospital, but didn\u2019t reveal the extent of his injuries. <\/p>\n
The other vendors said the victim was recuperating at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nathan\u2019s hotdog vendor was injured when the tree fell. Leonardo Munoz for NY Post<\/p>\n
Other vendors who work outside the museum said the injured man was recuperating at home. Gary Buiso\/NY Post<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s name wasn\u2019t released by authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trees,\u201d said vendor Mahmoud Saber, 51. \u201cA big wind comes and that\u2019s it. You never know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n