Woman killed by falling tree in Millburn

Friday, July 10, 2015
MILLBURN, N.J. (WABC) -- Utility crews spent all evening Friday stitching together the power grid on the quiet, two lane rural road through the South Mountain Reservation.

It's the scene of a freak accident that claimed the life of a 50-year-old mother of three as she drove to work.

Susan Niler was driving her Jeep Cherokee on the popular shortcut at the dawn of a clear, cloud free morning, when authorities say that tree toppled right on top of her car.

It's a beautiful place for a ride to work, but markings show where her tires were when the tree came out of nowhere. She might not have even seen it coming.
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Rescuers rushed her to Morristown Hospital where doctors were unable to save her life.

It was the latest incident in a string of fallen trees across the Tri-state area.



10 days ago, 21-year-old Michelle Mian of New Milford was crushed when a tree snapped as she walked to her car in her driveway. Police blamed the weather for that tragedy.

But a few days later, it was on a calm and wind free afternoon when a massive tree toppled on two cars in a driveway in Summit. At 200 years old, the tree had rotted almost all the way through.

Thursday, a family of three, including two kids, was driving in Yonkers when a tree landed on their car. They were lucky, Susan Niler was not.

"Is someone maintaining the reservation? That's basically the bottom line," a neighbor said.

But back on Brookside Drive, Fran from Springfield says it's always been a convenient and frankly beautiful country road, but now she'll be changing her routine.



"I can imagine, I don't want to imagine, but now I'm going to think twice driving through the reservation. I may stick to the major roads," Fran said.
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