SLIDELL, La. — With shattered windows and tree limbs stuck in his truck, Carey Dorsey is one lucky driver.
"My whole truck was covered," he said. "It was scary at the time. The whole front end of the truck is gone. I know I got a smile on my face, but I thank God I'm here."
Slidell Police say around 5:30 a.m. Monday, while driving on Gause Boulevard, Dorsey was seconds from losing his life.
"I was starting to work earlier this morning," he described. "And all of a sudden a tree fell out of the sky."
The tree fell almost on top of his truck, not giving Dorsey time to get out of the way.
"I tried to swerve to the side a little bit, but that didn't help because the tree was too big," he said. "The tree was all over the road."
Seeing the damage, police were stunned Dorsey walked away.
"Very lucky, very lucky," said Chief Randy Fandal. "Another half second or second and the tree could've fallen on his truck."
The tree is a pretty good size and can still be seen from the side of the road. Eyewitness News spoke with Dorsey, asking him what's next, and he said that's a tough question to answer.
"Yeah it is," Dorsey said. "Because that was my only transportation for the family."
With two grandchildren and a sick wife at home, Dorsey is focused more on them than himself.
"They depend on me," he said. "That's going to be a problem getting back and forth to work because where I work is pretty far."
But even after it all, Dorsey is still smiling, thankful he gets to see another day.
Officials are still trying to figure out why the tree fell over, but it's believed it could've been a mixture of saturated ground and a possible rotted out core.
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