Worker killed by falling tree in Washington County

A contract worker was killed by a falling tree on Monday afternoon in Washington County, officials said.

The Washington County Office of the Coroner said in a news release that the contractor was killed after the tree fell on them around 4 p.m. The worker was hired to cut down a tree at a residence on Lynn Portal Road in Canton Township, and it fell in an unintended direction, killing the person, the coroner said. 

In an update on Monday night, the coroner identified the worker as 42-year-old Ryan John Jenny of Houston Borough. Greene-Washington Regional Police Department Chief William DeForte told KDKA the man was working alone and was following proper safety protocol when he died. 

"He was cutting the tree in a correct fashion, and about 10 feet above where he was cutting, the tree experienced a stress fracture," the police chief said. "It splintered, and the entire weight of the tree collapsed on him."

The homeowners knew the man for "a long time," DeForte added, calling the incident a "freak accident." The man was an experienced professional tree cutter who owned his own business.

"It was an extraordinary traumatic event for the homeowners," DeForte said. "They are very shaken up."

The Greene-Washington Regional Police Department and the coroner are investigating.