By Michelle Crawley
WELL known country singer, Robert Mizzell, says “it was an act of God” that saved him from being killed when a tree fell on his car in the early hours of Tuesday morning of last week, 21 October.
The Louisiana-born country singer, who has made Ballinagore his home, was just three miles from his house on his way back from playing a concert in Coleraine in Northern Ireland in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, 21 October when a tree fell on his Audi – destroying it completely.
The ‘Mama Courtney’ and ‘Cajun Dance’ hitmaker told Topic this week that he had just passed Dalystown and was on his way home to his house in Ballinagore, at around 5 a.m. in the morning, when he spotted what he thought was a limb or a branch of a tree come towards the car. “It had been stormy earlier in the day and I actually thought it had died down by the early hours of the next morning. I can just remember spotting what I thought was a limb of the tree and I actually sped up to try and avoid it. I don’t know why I did that but thankfully I did because the way the tree fell saved me”.
The tree hit the bonnet of the singer’s car and went over the back of the car. The bonnet of the car took the full force of the impact, smashing the windscreen, and sending the passenger wing mirror through the passenger window. “I got an awful shock, especially when the windows smashed. I can’t really tell you what happened next. I think I was in such shock. I just know that I managed to get out of the car and was lucky to have not been injured”.
A van passed on the road and the passengers provided Robert with some assistance and waited with him until the Gardaí arrived. “It was a shock. Everyone tells me I am lucky to be alive and I was reminded since then that sadly others have not been so lucky, ” he reflected.
After his ordeal, Robert feels that something needs to be done to ensure that trees, particularly ones that could be at risk from falling, are not sitting on the edge of busy roads as they pose too great a risk to motorists and pedestrians. “I know that the Council doesn’t have resources to check or remove trees but something needs to be done to prevent accidents like this happening. I was lucky but others have lost their lives as a result of fallen trees”.
As the well-known saying goes – “the show must go on” and it certainly did for Robert, who despite returning home in a state of shock to his wife, was back on the road during the week on tour with his band, The Country Kings, in Dundalk, Ballinasloe, and Navan. Robert and his band will be performing in The Park House Hotel in Edgeworthstown this forthcoming Friday, 31 October and will be in Mullingar Arts Centre on Thursday, 13 November, with special guest Gráinne Gavigan.
