Tree topples, kills man on U.C. Berkeley campus

BERKELEY, Calif. (KTVU) - The sound of chainsaws and a wood chipper filled the air around this part of the UC Berkeley campus Monday afternoon.

"I had a meeting on campus so I was taking my shuttle down for the meeting and it got rerouted. So I asked the (driver) why we are not going the regular route? He said a tree fell," said Dan Zevin, a UC Berkeley employee.

But it was more than just a tree falling because that tree also crushed a car and killed the person inside. 

"When I came down here i noticed there was a red car smashed underneath a bunch of brush of trees," UC Berkeley employee Paul Lum said.

A student shared video that he shot with his cell phone from Stanley Hall with KTVU that showed the aftermath of the incident. 

Taken around 4 p.m. Sunday, it shows rain beating down on the area and a eucalyptus tree laying across Gayley Road.

Underneath its branches, a red vehicle with the victim's body inside. 

The Alameda County Coroner's office has identified the victim as 32-year-old Alexander Grant o fNovato.

"The guy was driving a hill toward Gayley Road.. I mean statistically the odds. I mean it's incredible, said Lum. "I mean, God, it's the first of the year after Christmas... this is just horrible."

Less than 24-hours later, workers removed the remnants of the tree that killed Grant along with another tree that was close by. 

"One came down... one was next to it. then they chopped the second one down and that one i saw come down," Lum said.

While police haven't officially said what might have caused the tree to fall, some are piecing together their own conclusion.

"We just had extremely high winds and everyone knew some trees were going to fall for sure so in many cases it's a person in the wrong place at the wrong time," Zevin said.

Authorities say Gant was not a UC Berkeley student, but was visiting someone on campus. 
The university sent condolences to the family, but had no further comment.