The horrific death of a 14-year-old Portland boy could have been prevented if his high school and an organization he worked with did not allow students to plant trees during a thunderstorm, a new $29 million lawsuit alleges.
Christopher Kelly was killed on Nov. 6, 2021, when a large section of a black cottonwood tree trunk fell 50 feet and hit him in the head while he was planting trees in the Sandy River Delta during a school-sponsored trip. the Oregonian reports.
Kelly was traveling with a group of about 20 other Central Catholic High School students and two staff members to fulfill his community service requirement for graduation, when Strong winds and thunder were reported just a mile away, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by his mother, Eileen. KPTV obtained.
She claims neither neither the school nor the organization did enough to protect students from the elements – even though forecasts predicted possible thunderstorms.
Christopher Kelly (pictured), 14, was killed on November 6, 2021, while on a school-sponsored trip
A large section of a black cottonwood trunk fell 55 feet and hit him in the head while he was planting trees in the Sandy River Delta.
When the storm finally reached the Delta, some students were left huddled under a tent while an arborist from the Friends of Trees ran to her car to get out of the storm, the lawsuit alleges.
Meanwhile, Kelly continued to plant trees and shrubs when the tree trunk fell on him.
He was alive and breathing before help arrived, but was later pronounced dead at the scene.
The lawsuit states that the school and Friends of Trees should have postponed or canceled the event, or at least moved the volunteers to a safe shelter when they heard thunder – as the National Weather Service advises.
It also says the school failed to provide volunteers with helmets and reportedly had no plan to move volunteers inside buildings or cars for at least 30 minutes after the last storm, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration guidelines .
Eileen is now seeking $29 million in damages for the boy’s wrongful death.
Kelly was traveling with a group of about 20 other Central Catholic High School students and two staff members to fulfill his community service requirement for graduation.
In a statement, Central Catholic High School officials said, “Our community was deeply saddened by the death of freshman Christopher Kelly in 2021 and continues to share our condolences with the Kelly family.
“We were made aware of the lawsuit on Friday and it is not appropriate to comment at this time.”
The executive director of Friends of Trees also told the Oregonian that his organization had just learned of the lawsuit and declined to comment.
Christopher was adopted by the Kelly family in May 2010 and was active in Taekwondo and Scouts USA – hoping to one day earn his black belt. says an online obituary.
He also loved math and “from an early age would help solve math problems in the family that were bothering his older sisters,” it said.
Christopher’s aunt has described him as “so sweet, a smiling, wonderful kid who believed in volunteering.”
Christopher’s aunt has that too described him to Inside Edition as “so sweet, just a smiling, wonderful kid who believed in volunteering.”
“It’s so tragic that this has happened, it’s just so unfair,” she said.
She stood up an online fundraiser for the teen’s funeral expenses, which had raised more than $25,000 when Eileen called it quits in January 2022.
“The girls and I plan to go to Florida in the fall and take some of Christopher’s ashes to Diagon Alley. [at Universal Studios] Since Chris was such a big Harry Potter fan, we’re going to see manatees in real life and leave some ashes there, and since we’re both, as our COVID project, watching the entire Star Trek series, we’re dropping by NASA’, she wrote at the time.
“Chris was planning on going to the Florida Keys with the scouts in March, so we’ll make sure some of him gets there,” she added.
“The girls and I are slowly working out this new reality for our family and are hugging each other a lot more,” Eileen continued. “We finally have therapy appointments for all of us. So I think we’re putting one foot in front of the other on our new path.”