There's renewed focus on the tree that fell on top of a car Wednesday in Garner killing one man and injuring two others.

Dejuan Green, 21, died when the large oak tree fell on the vehicle he was a passenger in as it traveled down Old Stage Road.

John Wolff, the 32-year-old driver of the car, and  25-year-old Brandy Donovan, who was in the back seat of the vehicle, were injured.

In the weeks before the accident occurred, a number of people in the area were apparently concerned about that tree before it toppled.

Among those whose attention was drawn to the tree was Ruffin Turner, who lives across the street from the accident scene.

“That tree was rotten,” he said. “I thought it should have been looked at it before now.”

A MyNC.com contributor was intrigued enough by the tree’s position to take a photo of it. Deb Schmitt  wrote that she snapped the shot while she was doing real estate work in the area at 10 a.m. Wednesday; just  hours before the tree fell.

The leaning oak tree also caught the attention of Old Stage Road resident Vivian Riley who says she and her best friend were worried about the oak for months.

“We always said that tree was going to fall and kill somebody,” said Riley.

An examination of the inside of the tree by NBC 17 showed its nearly four foot wide trunk was completely hollowed out by rot near the base of the tree.

But the situation isn’t unique to that one tree.

“You can ride up Old Stage Road and see quite a few trees that have to be taken care of,” explained Mike Layton who works at the Old Stage Mart Store near the scene of the accident.

With hundreds of thousands of trees lining Old Stage and scores of other area roads, municipal leaders like Garner’s mayor say damaged trees are a growing problem for them.

“I get inquiries on a regular basis about the dead trees that may or may not be hanging over the right of way or adjacent to where the pavement is,” said Mayor Ronnie Williams.

Old Stage Road is a state highway meaning NCDOT has responsibility for the trees along the side of the road, but only if they are within the area that includes the state’s  right of way.

And NCDOT needs to be notified about the problem.

In the case of the tree that fell Wednesday, no one apparently notified officials about the situation.