Dad pulls his 2-year-old son from under massive tree after it falls on DeKalb home

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A 2-and-a-half-year-old boy went to the hospital with minor injuries after a massive tree collapsed on his bedroom in DeKalb County. It happened just after 8 a.m. Friday along McJenkin Drive in Chamblee.

Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was at the home on McJenkin Drive in DeKalb County where a massive oak tree had fallen on the house and caused major damage.

The boy’s father told Mims that he had to rescue his 2-year-old son from underneath the tree after it fell around 8 a.m.

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Matt Ballantine said he was in the living room on his laptop when he heard the rumble and felt the house shake. He rushed into his son’s bedroom, where he found the child in his bed beneath a large branch from the oak tree.

“He wiggled out pretty easily, but he was just covered in dust,” Ballantine said.

His son, Wilson, had scrapes on his arm and leg, and his wife drove him to the hospital to get checked out.

A 7-month-old girl was also in the house and was not hurt.

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“He seems to be in good spirits,” Ballentine said. “He actually woke up so abruptly, when I brought him out here, he wanted to go back to bed, so it hasn’t hit him just yet.”

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The tree, which stood in the neighbor’s yard, collapsed after storms pounded the area earlier in the week.

“We’ve been concerned about this tree for a while,” Ballantine said. It leaned out over his house from a small hill in the neighbor’s backyard.

The neighbor, Millie Banks, said the tree was at least a hundred years old and arborists deemed it healthy.

“I’ve had three arborists over the past 15, 16 years tell me that it’s not in danger,” she said. “I feel so bad for them. I feel so bad.”

Ballantine said he’s just grateful everyone in his family is safe, and that relatives and neighbors have offered them a place to stay while his home is repaired.

“I can go probably knock on any door in the neighborhood and have someone give me a place to stay,” Ballntine said.

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