Distressing video has emerged showing the moment a falling tree limb crushed a vacationing family’s SUV, killing FDNY veteran Casey Skudin — and now his grieving widow is suing the North Carolina resort where their holiday trip turned tragic.
The cellphone video, shot June 17 from inside the vehicle, shows the dramatic aftermath of the crash, with Skudin’s wife, Angela, left to tearfully call out to her mortally wounded husband, “Oh my God! Casey!”
The short clip begins with the SUV arriving at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, where the couple and their two children planned to celebrate his 46th birthday and Father’s Day that weekend.
Suddenly, a massive piece of a tree comes down in the rain just as the car is passing, with the impact sending shattered glass raining into the car. Cups and other items are seen flying as the car comes to an abrupt stop, the video shows.
“F—k, is everybody OK?” Angela is heard saying. The video doesn’t show anyone after the impact but Angela is heard growing panicked as she realizes everyone isn’t OK.
Casey Skudin broke his neck while 10-year-old son Channing endured broken bones in the fatal tree accident. Court Documents
Casey Skudin and his family had planned to celebrate his 46th birthday on Father’s Day weekend in North Carolina. Facebook“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God, Casey!” she calls to her husband.
Angela is now suing the Biltmore Estate for “grossly negligent conduct” and seeking compensation for medical costs, funeral expenses, lost wages and punitive damages for the tragedy.
“[Biltmore] knowingly and intentionally kept a massive, rotted tree on its property next to a main road where Defendants knew it would cause great harm when it fell,” attorney Matthew Altamura wrote in a 17-page complaint filed in North Carolina last week.
Angela Skudin accused the Biltmore Estate of knowingly leaving a “massive, rotted tree” and causing her husband’s death. FacebookThe Biltmore, one of the state’s top tourist attractions, attached cables to parts of the tree to “merely keep the tree upright, instead of taking the appropriate measure of cutting the tree down and eliminating the potentially fatal risk,” the lawsuit claims.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Biltmore said the chunk of tree that struck the Skudins’ car fell “during a period of high winds.”
“There have been multiple eye witness accounts of a short duration high wind event around that time,” the rep said. “There are no words to express our deep sorrow for the Skudin family’s unimaginable loss and we offer them our deepest sympathy.”
The spokesperson said the Biltmore wouldn’t provide further details pending litigation.
“We adamantly deny all allegations of willful or intentional conduct on the part of Biltmore, as well as the allegations of negligence,” the rep said. “We will present all of the facts about this heartbreaking accident through the legal process.”
Casey apparently broke his neck and 10-year-old Channing was knocked unconscious and suffered broken bones, the lawsuit said. Older brother Benjamin, 19, and Angela walked away with minor injuries.
Casey was a highly decorated, 16-year veteran of the FDNY who worked for Ladder 137 in the Rockaways. He would’ve turned 46 days after the accident, on Father’s Day.
Angela told The Post after the tragedy that her husband died the way he would have chosen, with the lives of his family spared. She was still shaken by the incident.
“It was crazy. I was the only one that wasn’t knocked out,” she said. “Just watching your husband die and you can’t do anything is really insane.”










