Tree Trimmer Killed In Accident Remembered As Loving Father

HACIENDA HEIGHTS, CA — Tragedy struck a southern California family Thursday after an experienced tree trimmer died while helping a friend. Simon Lemus, 49, was trimming a palm tree in Hacienda Heights when he became "trapped inside dried fronds" under the tree's canopy while over 40 feet off the ground.

Firefighters responded to the scene just be fore 4 p.m. Thursday to the 15400 block of Garo Street, where they found Lemus unresponsive in the palm tree, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Crews used an aerial ladder to reach and then lower him to the ground about an hour and a half later. Lemus was pronounced dead at the scene, a fire department dispatch supervisor said.

His teenage daughter, who was with her father at the time of his death, shared her heartbreak with reporters at the scene.

"I'm broken because he was a great dad, he meant everything to me, he was a great example," his daughter Karen Lemus, a young adult, told NBC4. "I'm really sad because I lost him." Read the full story here.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.

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