20-year-old Great Neck woman out of hospital after massive tree falls into bedroom
GREAT NECK (WABC) -- A Long Island woman's sleeping position likely saved her life when a massive tree crashed through her roof and landed on top of her.
The tree toppled just after midnight Monday as 20-year-old Stephanie Epstein, of Great Neck, back from college for the summer, was trying to sleep in her bed. She wound up trapped under the 5,000-pound tree after it crashed through the roof and onto her bed.
Storms had rolled through the area that night, but it isn't clear exactly what caused the tree to fall. Rescuers said had she not been sleeping on her side, the outcome might have been much different.
On Monday evening, work crews patched up the cratered in the roof of the home at 11 Wooleys Lane East.
Epstein's grandmother breathed a sigh of relief as her dad, a doctor himself, told Eyewitness News that his daughter is very lucky. He was there every step of the rescue.
"She was talking to us the whole time - she did a good job keeping in good spirits," said Steven Blocker of the Great Neck Vigilant Fire Company, "we worked with her the whole two hours, we were there making sure we could get her out safely."
