Tree falls, killing Lakeville man

LAKEVILLE, Minn. (KMSP) - A 29-year-old man has died after the tree he was cutting down fell on him Sunday morning, according to Lakeville Police.

Officials say a friend was helping him cut down the tree at his home on the 17000 block of Jamaica Circle in Lakeville when it fell around 10:37 a.m.

Neighbors Jodi and Paul Baune tell Fox 9 the victim is 29-year-old Joe Frazee. They say Frazee worked in the yard a lot and was planning on building an addition on the home, which was why they were removing the trees.

The Baune's were in their kitchen when they saw the tragedy unfold.

"I said 'Paul come up here and look this doesn't look right' I said 'maybe he needs some help' and then all of a sudden I saw the tree start to fall and I was like 'it's not falling the right way,'" said Jodi Baune.

"It fell toward the house knocking him off the ladder and he went down face first and the tree came right on top of him," said Paul Baune. "I grabbed the phone, dialed 911 immediately, handed the phone to [my wife] and I ran to try to help out in any way I could. It took six of us to take that tree off of him. So, it was pretty bad."