NJ Golfer Retrieving Ball Killed by Falling Tree

Police say a New Jersey golfer is dead after a tree fell on him when he tried to retrieve an errant ball from the backyard of a home adjacent to an exclusive country club.

Alpine police identified the man as 60-year-old Sung Paik of Union City.

Capt. Michael LaViola tells The Record newspaper Paik entered the yard where workers were removing a dead tree Sunday afternoon. LaViola says the workers yelled for Paik to move but the tree gave way on its own.

Paik's golfing partner and a physician who was also on the course at Montammy Golf Club performed CPR but Paik was pronounced dead at a hospital.

LaViola called the death accidental although local ordinances bar homeowners from hiring workers for such work on Sundays.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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