Man dies after fall from tree in SR

Robert Wood was sometimes like a volcano -- hyperactive and ready to blow, said his mother, Penny Swan.

He was also fun-loving and an attention-seeker, which perhaps was part of the reason he climbed a tree in Santa Rosa's Howarth Park this weekend to retrieve a Frisbee, an action that proved fatal.

Witnesses said the 23-year-old fell to his death Saturday about 6 p.m.

"He was face down between the trees, pulseless and breathless," Santa Rosa Fire Battalion Chief Andy Pforsich said.

Emergency crews tried to revive him, but Wood was declared dead at the scene.

He died of blunt force trauma, according to a preliminary autopsy conducted Monday by the Sonoma County Coroner. A toxicology examination is pending, but results are not expected for weeks, said Sgt. Mitch Mana.

It was unclear how high Wood had climbed before he fell or how many people witnessed the accident.

Emergency crews responded to a distress call from Summerfield Road, north of the park's softball fields and tennis courts.

Swan said her son, whom she called Bobby but others knew as Woody, led a troubled life, but worked his way into the hearts of many.

"Everybody loved him -- even if he was yelling and screaming at you," she said.

Wood had an arrest record and was into drugs and drinking, but he had been trying to change his lifestyle because his girlfriend of more than a year is expecting a baby boy in 10 weeks, Swan said.

He was making progress, according to his mother.

He had put on weight and told people he had not done drugs in months. He continued to drink, however.

"He was afraid he would pass down the abusive tendencies," Swan said. "He wanted to show a child that you didn't have to hurt, because he had hurt so much when he was little."

Reared in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa with an older sister, Jennifer, Wood spent his school years at various group homes in California and Nevada. When he left Nevada, he was tired of all the restrictions, Swan said, and began to live on the streets of Santa Rosa, saying it offered him freedom.

"He lived outside, under bridges, lived in campgrounds," said Swan, who lives in Santa Rosa.

Wood's companion throughout was a male pit bull named R.J.

Climbing a tall tree to help get a Frisbee -- and get some attention -- was not out of the norm for her son, Swan said.

"The police told him the day before to stay out of the trees because he's going to hurt himself," Swan said. "He craved attention."

You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 521-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.