Homeowner Says Crews Demolished Wrong House

[China]

Homeowner Says Crews Demolished Wrong House

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. -- This is a story that may leave you shaking your head.

A Sandy Springs man got a phone call Monday that his family home in Carroll County was gone. Torn down. Demolished.

“We had heirlooms in there…my mom’s dining room set…her hutch with her dishes in there,” said homeowner Al Byrd.

Byrd said he cannot believe his eyes.

The house his father built, brick by brick, with his own hands has been mysteriously demolished.

“You can’t imagine. It’s just incredulous that something like this can happen and no one contact the owner,” said Byrd.

Byrd grew up in the home with his nine brothers and sisters. It’s a three bedroom house on a little road bearing his family’s name.

“We were taught that you could do anything that you wanted to do as long as you were willing to work hard and pay the price,” said Byrd.

Byrd’s cousin shot video Monday of a bulldozer in the yard of the house with dumpsters loaded with rubble.

The demolition company said it had paperwork.

“I said, ‘Paperwork for what?’ and he said, ‘For the house, to demolish the house.’ I said, ‘I’m the owner of the house, I haven’t given anybody any authority to demolish this house,’” said Byrd.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Jovita Moore asked Byrd if the demolition company had an address.

“I said, ‘What address did you have?’ and he said, ‘They sent me some GPS coordinates.’ I said, ‘Don’t you have an address?’ (and) he said, ‘Yes, my GPS coordinates led me right to this address here and this house was described,’” said Byrd.

Byrd said he suspects the intended target was actually across the road.

What a demolished house may look like

Click on the link for the full article

[PokerPacker]

:doh:

"what a demolished house may look like"? :rotflmao:

[Koolblue13]

Hand built home destroyed, damn thats awful.

(and yeah, that's (^) still funny.)

[pez]

Strange they go by GPS coordinates, and have no physical address at all... I am surprised there haven't been more screwups based upon that approach...

[SonOfWashington]

[BKSkinsFan]

These guys may have screwed up but I still liked them when I was a kid.

[ACW]

I smell a lawsuit.

[Stophovr6]

I would sue the pants of them.

[MattFancy]

I would sue the pants of them.

Oh yeah! If a guy can sue and win because he didn't get a hat on Mother's Day, this guy should have no problem at all winning this one.

[Stophovr6]

Anyways, what idiot would use a GPS location to demolish a house? Wouldn't you at least visit the site first?

edit: looks like they did:

The man who cuts the grass told Byrd about a month ago that the power box was missing and there were holes punched into the walls. They both thought it was vandalism. Now, Byrd believes it was part of the preparation for the demolition.

[Bliz]

Anyways, what idiot would use a GPS location to demolish a house? Wouldn't you at least visit the site first?

or at least peek inside a window (and notice the house is still furnished)? I mean, damn, don't they have safety procedures? Knock on the door and check around to make sure no one is inside? And in the course of all that nothing looks off, like potted plants by the door or anything? That's crazy.

[Henry]

Don't you need to get a permit from the county to do something like that?

How the hell do you just drive up to someone's house and knock it down?

I smell several lawsuits.

[DeanCollins]

so typical of the redneck contractor to get defensive and say "my GPS says this is the house"

[jimster]

I wonder if they even bothered to knock on the door or anything. Would be a bad time to have your earphones in.

[Baculus]

Simply terrible. I imagine financial compensation wouldn't make up for all of the personal heirloom which were lost.

[BigMike619]

Simply terrible. I imagine financial compensation wouldn't make up for all of the personal heirloom which were lost.

that was my thought.

I was also wondering why a guy would tear down a house that was full still? wouldnt that be a clue that maybe you had the wrong place?

[brianforster]

Simply terrible. I imagine financial compensation wouldn't make up for all of the personal heirloom which were lost.

You'd be suprised. They will probably make a 6 figure profit off of this mistake. Maybe even more in punitive damages. I wish something like this would happen to me. Of course, I'm not very sentimental. So to each their own.

[CrypticVillain]

I can't believe this bs. How the hake could they do something like this. I smell millions of dollars about to get handed over. Damage, pain and suffering, and idiotism.

[Destino]

Wow that is one terrible day to have. I can't imagine how upset I would be.

[Chachie]

First thing I'd do would be to get the "GPS coordinates" for the demolition man's house.

[hyphenatedbren]

First thing I'd do would be to get the "GPS coordinates" for the demolition man's house.

You'd probably end up at his neighbor's house.

[big#44]

why would a thing such as DESTROYING A BUILDING be left to gps coordinates and not a physical address? i mean my garmin is great sure, but its been a little off more then once if you know what i mean.