KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Patricia Flagle remembered exactly how the tree came down. She said it happened in slow motion and fell right on top of the Summer Song Ice Cream truck parked in front of her home Saturday afternoon.
“There was a windstorm,” said Flagle during an interview near her house. “It rained and everything and all of sudden a big windstorm come.”
Saturday’s winds were so heavy it knocked over a tree onto the truck, pinning the driver inside. Kalamazoo police said in a statement that he was serving ice cream to two young girls and was reaching in the cooler when the tree came crashing down.
“He told them to run and they did and they got shook up pretty bad,” said Flagle. “He was shook up you know but he was OK. He was a nice guy. He kept saying 'help, help.'"
Neighbors around Springmont and Barnard streets ran to help the girls and the drivers. Police said they suffered only minor injuries but the driver had to be pulled out of the passenger side window. Then the power went out.
“All of the wires was down,” said Flagle. “The cable was out and everything.”
Power went out for several hours she said. Flagler's power came back on around 9 p.m. that night. However she’ll never forget what she saw.
“It was like a horrible movie,” said Flagle.
