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Google Street View showing tree branches overhanging southbound Cumberland Avenue.
Jerzy Szczepanek, 33, of Des Plaines has died after a large tree from the Chevalier Woods Forest Preserve — a Cook County forest preserve — fell directly on the roof of a van he was driving for John’s & Les Flooring about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday. Jerzy Szczepanek or ‘Jerry’ was known as a hard-working, friendly man, who was on his way to work in a southbound lane in the 3600 block of North Cumberland Avenue when a tree that was weakened by rotting wood collapsed. Several people attempted to lift the tree off of his van, but they could not lift the tree because of its massive weight. There was a large cracking noise before the tree fell.
Jerzy Szczepanek was pronounced dead at 7:59 a.m. Friday at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Chevalier Woods is just east of Schiller Park, just south of Norridge, and just west of the City of Chicago.
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