The mother of an Oregon student who died while planting trees to reach his school’s volunteer goal to graduate has secured a settlement after suing for millions.
Court records viewed by The Oregonian state that Central Catholic High School in Portland and the nonprofit tree-planting organization that Christopher Kelly was doing volunteer work for, Friends of Trees, have reached a settlement with Kelly’s mom, Sarah Kelly, after she sued the two parties for $29 million. The amount she received is confidential.
Police said in a 2021 press release that Christopher was killed that November in Multnomah County after being “struck by a fallen tree limb” in the area of Thousand Acres Dog Park at the Sandy River Delta in Troutdale, which is a suburb of Portland. The teen had been fulfilling required volunteer hours to graduate from Central Catholic High School when a large section of a black cottonwood tree fell from 52 feet and slammed into his head…