Whitman Couple Killed After Falling Tree Hits Their Car In Abington

ABINGTON (CBS) -- Police have identified the Whitman couple who were killed Sunday morning when a tree fell on their car in Abington as 51-year-old Manuela Teixeira and her 49-year-old husband Franklin Teixeira.

Firefighters responded to Rockland Street shortly after 10 a.m. to find the couple trapped inside their 2015 BMW. They were freed and rushed to South Shore Hospital where they were pronounced dead.

Abington Fire Chief David Majenski called the incident "an absolute sad, sad tragedy."

Witness Bharat Agrawal told WBZ-TV's Jim Smith there wasn't much traffic at the time and it appeared to be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Flowers have been left at the site.

"I heard the sound of the tree cracking and I just looked out and it was just terrible timing," witness Brian Easton told WBZ. "The car came along and just perfectly the tree fell on the roof."

Franklin Teixeira was driving when snow and high winds knocked the rotted-and-hollowed out tree onto the car, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.

The tree also hit power lines and disrupted service to a Rockland Street home, investigators say.

The Teixeiras owned a Dunkin' Donuts on Hingham Street in Rockland.

Co-workers were stunned at the news.

"Both of them were extremely hard working individuals," Edward Calley told WBZ. "They cared so much about their employees and their business. They did everything that they can to make sure that their business and their people could have a job and their customers could have a place to go."

WBZ-TV's Jim Smith contributed to this report.