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Friday, August 7, 2015
vol. 3, no. 32
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◆◆◆ August 7, 2015
G.n. woman recalls getting pinned by tree
BLue AnGeL
“How the heck did I survive this?” Stephanie Epstein says from hospital By J Ust i n E sCHOEnBart When a 5,000-pound tree landed atop the sleeping Stephanie Epstein early Monday, the Village of Great Neck resident said she initially didn’t think she’d make it out alive. “How the heck did I survive this? I can’t believe that was pinning me down,” Epstein, 20, said during a news conference Friday at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. Rescue workers spent more than two hours working to free Epstein from beneath the tree, which she said fell on her at a perpendicular angle, crushing her pelvic and abdomen areas. “I went to bed shortly after 11, and all of the sudden I heard a loud crash,” she said. “I thought it was a big strike of thunder, and then next thing I knew I was pinned under the tree. I thought
I was dreaming at first, and it all went on from there.” The SUNY Binghamton student said she tried to keep calm by shutting her eyes and breathing slowly, though a portion of the tree pressed down on her airways. “I was begging everyone, ‘Get this tree off me, please,’” Epstein said. Epstein’s family sought immediate help from Great Neck Vigilant firefighter Steven Blocker, who lives down the street on Wooleys Lane East. Blocker said he had been getting ready to investigate the source of the crash when Epstein’s family knocked on his door, and he set an IV for Stephanie to prevent her from going into shock. “It was the most frightening moment of my entire life,” Geoffrey Epstein, Stephanie’s father, said Friday. “What started out for us that Continued on Page 39
PHOTO BY BILL SAN ANTONIO
Members of the band Blue Angel perform at the Mary Jane Davies green on Monday as part of the Town of North Hempstead’s summer concert series.
Man hospitalized after crashing car on train tracks By n O a H MansKar The husband of Great Neck school board President Barbara Berkowitz was hospitalized Saturday night after he crashed
his car three feet from the westbound track of the Great Neck train station, Blank Slate Media has learned. Barry Berkowitz apparently lost control of his vehicle around 9 p.m. and crashed
through a fence, two barriers and a handrail, stopping on a metal staircase next to an enbankment near the tracks, according to Great Neck Vigilant Fire Department report. Continued on Page 39
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