City Code Enforcer Fired after entering a house

[Racket_Man]

http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2012/jul/0...ve-ar-4090363/

http://www.wrdw.com/politics/headlin...162134895.html

and he is fighting his termination.

Summary:

code enforcement officer tries to contact a homeowner about uncare for lawn (several complaints from neighbors). he knocks on the door, then goes around to a side door and finds it unlocked ---- SO he enters and tries to find the homeowner but no one answers. he finds what appears to be a bedrrom door and opens it and finds the female homeowner asleep. he wakes her up and yells at her about the lawn.

Now this situation could have turned into a he said/she said BUT the woman had survallence cameras all over the house.

The code enforcement offficer "claims" he smelled something bad BUT the county has rules against entering homes uninvited.

No criminal charges were pressed or filed but the woman made a complaint to the county and the officer was terminated.

[Sarah Valentine]

You NEVER go into someone's house unless you are invited in be the homeowner. This guy is an idiot, if no one answers you come back at a reasonable hour the next day. I can't believe that he thought it was even remotely ok to go into someone's house.

[Mytical]

Yeah, think I am going to side with the woman on this one. Think the excuse is full of it. I mean if he had smelled something bad, wouldn't it have been "Think there is a gas leak or something, I need to get you out of here." not yelling about the lawn?

[Andara Bledin]

I'm with the city on this one, too.

He had no reasonable reason to enter her house. Not for an unkempt lawn. >_<

^-.-^

[TheHuckster]

If it was a life-or-death situation, like if the guy heard "Feed me, Seymour!" coming from the lawn, then that's the only lawn-related scenario where I think measures like entering the house and waking the occupant is necessary.

But, seriously, if your lawn is unkempt, why not tape a notice on the door or leave a voice mail? I could be wrong, but don't you also need a warrant to enter a house like that? And even then, you'd need police presence to enter the home if it's truly something that requires the homeowner's immediate attention.

[Andara Bledin]

My city has an ordinance about lawn length: if the grass is over 6", you could be cited.

I don't know how they do the inspections, but the notice is just sent in the mail with a 2-week limit to get it handled. I'm not sure how they deal with actual citations, but I suspect those go out in the mail, too.

^-.-^

[Tanasi]

In my opinion he should be thankful he only lost his job, he could have been shot and killed.

[protege]

In my opinion he should be thankful he only lost his job, he could have been shot and killed.

I know if he tried that shit at my mother's...he'd get fucked up. Mom is about 5-foot-3, 63 year old....but has a black belt in hapkido. That code enforcer literally wouldn't know what hit him. She'd assume he was there to rob the place...and she'd take his ass out

Seriously, what the hell was the guy thinking? He's awfully lucky that he didn't get shot.

[Nyoibo]

In my opinion he should be thankful he only lost his job, he could have been shot and killed.

That's pretty much exactly what I though.

[Lillfilly]

He was lucky! He could have been hurt. But sad that, they would have taken his word over hers had she not had video evidence.

[bainsidhe]

Weird, for some reason I thought the woman would've been older. Either way, this guy just pisses me off. First he lies about even being in the home, until he finds out he's on camera. Then he gets huffy and says he feels like he's being accused of burglarizing the place (huh?), when really he's just an overzealous creep that trespassed. If the smell was that bad and he really thought someone was in distress, he would've called the cops. Even if the property was abandoned, he had NO RIGHT to enter without permission. I would be horrified if I woke up to some stranger gallavanting through my home and you're damn right I'd want his ass fired.

[Greenday]

He's a code enforcer and not a cop. It's not his job to enter houses uninvited even if he smelled something. Should have been thrown in jail.

[jackfaire]

He's a code enforcer and not a cop. It's not his job to enter houses uninvited even if he smelled something. Should have been thrown in jail.

Especially since he is there to enforce a code that is about aesthetics and not even a common health hazard. I hope he was fired and forfeited any severance package given the gross misconduct involved.

He should be grateful he was caught on camera. If anyone else had witnessed him enter the home and then this hit the news people would be thinking he had more nefarious plans than lawn care.