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CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Tree Nearly Crushes Officer In Ringwood, N.J.

RINGWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - A New Jersey police officer was recovering late Friday after a moment of terror he will never forget.

As CBS2's Lou Young reported, it was a pre-rush hour wake-up call early Friday on Greenwood Lake Turnpike – a mountain road in the Passaic County town of Ringwood.

The dashboard cam was running as Officer Doug Faber got out to move a large tree branch that had fallen down the steep rock face onto the soon-to-be-busy highway.

"I heard two loud pops, and then I looked up and I saw the tree coming to me, and I just – I turned and I ran," Faber said.

Faber spoke to CBS2 by phone as well-wishers from a town delivered a large get-well card to his house.

"I know I took a branch to the head, and I think it kind of knocked me down," Faber said. "And when I fell, I guess I landed on my wrist and broke my wrist."

Faber, 32, is the volunteer fire chief in Ringwood as well as being a police officer. He is married, and thankfully, quick on his feet.

Faber told CBS2's Young he was more worried about traffic than trees, and certainly didn't expect one to practically fall from the sky.

"A lot of people don't realize that there's danger in police work no matter what," said Ringwood police Chief Joseph Walker. "It doesn't necessarily mean just arresting felons and things."

Faber said things could have gone far worse.

"I'm a very lucky man," Faber said. "There's definitely somebody on my shoulder this morning."

Faber now has 13 stitches to the head and a broken wrist that will keep him home for much of the summer. But he also has a grateful wife, and a new reason to look up when he's out of the car out on Greenwood Lake Turnpike.

Faber has been with the Ringwood Police Department for seven and a half years. The department has 20 officers for a sparsely populated town that covers 28 square miles.

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