A recent tragedy in Pembroke Pines has residents worried about the city’s tree-trimming program.
On Monday, the city held a public service to honor Officer Charles “Charlie” Herring, a Pembroke Pines Police Department motorman and father of four who died while on duty.
Herring was riding the department’s 2020 Harley Davidson Police Road King motorcycle southbound on Northwest 184th Avenue near Sheridan Street when a large palm frond dropped and caused him to lose control and collide with two large palm trees, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
“This was freak accident,” Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis said on Wednesday.
The BSO detectives who investigated the cause of the fatal crash determined that Herring was not impaired or speeding, and his motorcycle did not malfunction when he crashed along 184 Avenue, where city officials reported the trees had been trimmed in August.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” Ortis said.
The city’s public works department is responsible for trimming the trees. That maintenance includes the lifting of canopies for the Florida Department of Transportation’s required clearances, the removal of seed pods, and the removal of any dead, or dying branches.
It’s done once a year. The city considers the Royal Palm a “self-cleaning” tree because it sheds its fronds at a rate of about one per month. Green fronds are usually not removed because doing so makes the tree more susceptible to disease, which could kill the tree.
Ortis said he doesn’t think the trees should be removed.