A couple whose baby girl was killed by a falling tree limb in Central Park was stunned to learn of the Manhattan mom who broke her neck protecting her young kids from a massive, tumbling elm.
“The thought that another mother may go through the same horrors we have gone through over the last seven years is heart-breaking. I can’t believe this has happened again,” Karla del Gallo told The Post in a statement.
The 41-year-old woman has since given birth to another baby, but “this child cannot replace the child that was lost. It cannot replace her lost daughter. It’s not a quid pro quo,” said her lawyer, Dino Mastropietro.
Del Gallo was cradling her 6-month-old daughter Gianna outside the Central Park Zoo in 2010, waiting for husband Michael Ricciutti to snap a picture, when an 18-inch limb from a honey locust tree crashed down on her head.
Gianna was killed, and del Gallo, a marketing executive, was critically hurt. She spent weeks in a medically induced coma.
The couple’s $50 million negligence lawsuit, claiming the tree wasn’t properly cared for, has dragged on for seven years. It names the city, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which oversees the Central Park Zoo, and a tree company.
On Tuesday, Tory Burch executive Anne Monoky Goldman was strolling along West Drive near West 62nd Street with her three young sons, including 11/2-month-old James, strapped to her chest, when the towering elm suddenly snapped.
Goldman fractured her neck sheltering her kids from the huge tree, while her 2-year-old fractured his skull, a relative said. The infant, and his 4-year-old brother, appeared to escape serious injury.
“This story is so upsetting; to know that none of this would have happened if people did their jobs properly and professionally,” del Gallo said of Goldman’s predicament. “I pray this mother has the strength to get through whatever is ahead of her and her family.”
The Central Park Conservancy, which oversees tree maintenance in the park, said the tree that hit Goldman had developed root rot since a November inspection, according to a report.
Del Gallo, meanwhile, continues to struggle with her injuries, including a damaged arm and “a lot of cognitive deficits,” Mastropietro said.
“She’s not working, she’s never going to work again,” he added.
Last week’s tree tragedy “really hit home for her,” the lawyer added.
In 2014 a judge shut down the city’s efforts to obtain full access to years worth of del Gallo and Ricciutti’s emails, medical and driving records, and social media accounts, including LinkedIn and the brain-game site Luminosity.
“They’re fully aware and apprised of del Gallo’s condition. It’s very frustrating not to have the case resolved when the negligence of the parties is clear,” Mastropietro said.
The death of Gianna Ricciutti and del Gallo’s injuries “was a very tragic incident,” said city Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci, who added that the case “involves multiple parties and complex legal issues that are best left to be worked out through the legal process.”