Bothell boy is killed by falling tree snag

By Jon Savelle
Seattle Times staff reporter

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

A Bothell youth died instantly Monday when the top half of a dead tree fell on him as he played in a wooded area near West Hill Elementary School.

Brian Pounder, 13, died when the section of tree snapped and fell on his head.

"He was just playing," said his father, Gary Pounder.

Pounder said his son and the boy's two best friends had taken their bikes to the park about one mile away. They were playing on the snag, which had already toppled somewhat, and were climbing and pushing on it. Brian Pounder just happened to be right under it when it broke.

"They just had a vigil out there," Gary Pounder said last night. "They must have had 70 or 80 people. It's amazing how many kids cared for him — I had no idea."

Brian Pounder was an eighth-grader at Canyon Park Junior High. His older brother, Christopher, attends Bothell High School, and both their parents are teachers. Gary Pounder teaches mathematics at Washington Middle School in Seattle, and Michelle Pounder teaches French at Blanchet High School, also in Seattle.

Both teachers received flowers from their schools yesterday.

"He was just a sweet little boy and kind," Gary Pounder said. "I learned so much (about him) from just listening to the kids holding hands" at the vigil. "He was always kind, he always had a good word for everybody. He was just the kind of kid everybody liked."

At home, his son was just the kid around the house: raking leaves, feeding the dog, listening to music, playing his new bass guitar. Pounder said the loss is hard to fathom.

"It's nuts," he said. "It always happens somewhere else — Eastern Washington, Kansas — but it happened here in this house.

"Why didn't the tree just break his arm?"

A funeral is planned for Saturday, but Pounder didn't know exactly when or where it would be held. He said he expects a lot of kids will attend.

In the meantime, he had these words for other parents:

"Every minute is important, even when they are giving you guff and you're mad at them, because you never know."

Seattle Times staff reporter Lisa Heyamoto contributed to this story.

Jon Savelle: 206-464-3192 or jsavelle@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company