What is evidence?

[Arkilogue]

I had the sad opportunity to gather some forensic evidence in an unofficial capacity on the death of a fellow tree trimmer (I didn't know him). He had managed to crush himself with a large branch, standing in a crotch 30ft up in the air. As a tree trimmer, the majority of my job is not getting myself or others killed.

So I inspected the tree and found no spike holes. This was evidence to me he was not using climbing spurs, greatly reducing his options for safe standing positions. In the direction of the killer branch was a close fan palm with all it's branches crushed on one side. This was evidence to me that he probably laid the branch on the fan palm which bent down and spring loaded the branch to be flung butt first back onto him. I asked around and found out it was the last cut of a long day and the final large branch cut of that particular tree, the remaining was just 30ft of trunk.

So I deduced he had restricted himself to standing in the crotch having no spurs to stab into the vertical trunk, was rushing the job to get it done, miscalculated (or didn't calculate or direct) the angle of fall and didn't account for the reaction of the fan palm to sudden loading. I later found out he was free climbing without a belt or local line either.

The confluence of all these missteps resulted in his accidental suicide.

Yes it's tragic yet I have to look at it clinically and technically so the I don't make the same mistakes.


What I want to talk about is the nature of evidence in relation to what one is looking for. For instance I was looking for how the guy was climbing and the lack of spike holes was evidence to me he was not using climbing spurs. But I could have been wrong. I have tossed a rope into the canopy and hauled my self straight up with spurs on to skip a trunk covered in vines, but it's rare and a pain in the ass. This was not a large tree, 60ft top max and the main working area was only 30 ft up, easily accessible by a quick free climb. My deduction was later corroborated and he was using no safety equipment at all.

I did not get confirmation on the exact sequence of events that landed the branch in his lap, whether the fan palm threw it back at him or not. But my many years tree trimming tell me this is most likely the case. Again, I could be wrong. I could have asked an eye witness but it was traumatic enough for them without me making them re-live the moment, it was not a quick death.


It was relatively easy for me to pick out these pieces of evidence...because I am very familiar with the work and I was looking for specific things. But what If I wasn't and I didn't know what to look for? The same evidence (or lack there of) would be meaningless to someone with no experience.


If you have any questions, comments or criticisms on how I've navigated so far I'd love to hear them.

Next major post will get more existential with the question "what is the uncut tree itself 'evidence' of?" And is that an "ask-able" question?