Two people are injured Sunday after a giant branch snapped off of a tree on the National Mall, fire officials say.
D.C. Fire and EMS said shortly after 3 p.m. the branch fell onto the two people at 9th Street and Constitution Avenue NW near the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
Some good Samaritans were able to lift some of the branch off of them and get them free before medics arrived.
The two people have been taken to George Washington University Hospital with minor injuries, fire officials said.
Others in the area at the time heard the branch snapping and safely fled, the department said.
A man driving on 9th Street toward the entrance to I-395 said he heard the branch crack, but could not get away in time before part of it crashed onto his car.
"Then all of a sudden, you had a tree that was falling down...and just crushed my car," said the man.
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A portion of 9th Street was shut down as workers cut up the tree branch and at one point, only one lane of Constitution Avenue was getting by.
Fire officials said the Department of Public Works will evaluate the tree.
