SkyEye first captured images of 82-year-old Johnnie Williams defiantly sitting in her driveway at about 9:30 a.m. as crews from the City of Houston stood around, unsure how to carry out the task.
[Ads /]
"I was going to sit right there in that little chair until someone came out there that could make an intelligent decision," Williams told ABC13.
Williams who has lived in her home for 60 years, said she was in bed when officials came to start the work on her badly damaged garage.
"I heard all the banging on the door," she said while describing a scene with police officers, crews, and equipment.
Her family told ABC13 the city stopped by last Friday and gave a 48-hours' notice to tear the garage down but thought they'd bought more time by reaching out to various elected officials.
The city said that wasn't the case.
[Ads /]
TaKasha Francis, the director of the City of Houston's Department of Neighborhoods, told ABC13 why they carried out the demolition in such a prompt fashion.
"This is what we call an example of an emergency demolition," she said.
Francis said the structure was too close to the home next door to Williams and was something that could attract criminal activity.
She told Eyewitness News an administrative hearing determined the property was a threat to public safety, and that the city's code of ordinances doesn't require any notice to property owners once that determination has been made.
"The notice to the owner actually comes after the [demolition]," she explained. "The reason why is [it poses] a serious and immediate hazard that affects public health and safety."
[Ads /]
Williams didn't accept that as a justifiable reason to enter her property and tear down her garage.
"They violated my Constitutional and civil rights," she said.
Williams said they had a contractor already scheduled to come out later this month to tear it down, but Francis said that individual didn't have the proper permits needed to do the work.
The city will also be placing a lien on the property for the cost of the demolition but said they don't know what that dollar amount will be until after the work is completed.
"I'm just going to leave it in God's hands," Williams said. "I serve a just God, and it's going to work out."