A homeless man ended up in hospital after workers bulldozed down his tent.
On Monday, October 4, as Washington workers were clearing a homeless camp, they heard a man “screaming” from inside a tent. Before hearing his screams, the tent was already picked up by the front loader and pushed into the road leaving him trapped inside, as Unilad reports.
Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for the local Department of Health and Human Services said the unnamed man had not suffered any “visible injuries.” They took him to the hospital so he could be properly assessed.
According to officials, before the workers began bulldozing the camp, each tent had been checked to make sure there was no one inside. Contrarily, a homeless advocate claimed that they didn’t make any checks prior to clearing the tents.
As per Daily Mail, Andrew Anderson of the People for Fairness Coalition said:
“They had to cut a hole to make sure this person was okay, and they brought in the fire department who actually got him out. They didn’t actually take any time to make sure anyone was in there, they just grabbed the tents and took them out.”
Meanwhile, witnesses said the workers operating the machinery couldn’t possibly hear the screams from inside the tents.
It was police officers and homeless advocated who watched over the process that rushed to help the trapped man.
Another advocate told WTOP:
“Across the street, we heard the man yelling, but they didn’t hear him when they were right next to them, so we jumped over the things on the sidewalk to get to him.”
Тhe clearance was a part of a pilot program designed to connect the homeless people enhabiting tent encampments with housing facilities. Nearly 60 people had been living in the camp before it was removed.
Wayne Turnage, the DC deputy mayor for health and human services, stated:
“There will be a check to make sure there is absolutely nobody in that tent, and then a person will stand there while the Bobcat comes to make sure nobody comes in the tent after the check is made.
Whatever the case, we will make sure that it does not happen again.”
