82-Year-Old Homewood Woman Says She Lives In Fear After SWAT Team Mistakenly Kicked Down Her Door
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - An 82-year-old woman in Homewood says she lives in fear every night after the SWAT team mistakenly broke down her door.
That happened a year and a half ago. The city still hasn't reimbursed her for the front door they destroyed.
For 82-year-old Vivian Bey, it's been a long time since she's gotten a good night's sleep.
"I don't get to sleep in this house at night anymore," says Bey. "I just don't. I'm burning a lot of electricity to keep the TV on at night. I'm really scared here, you know what I mean?"
Her insomnia began in February of 2019 when the SWAT team broke down her door at 1 a.m. in the morning and stuck a gun in her face.
"Tore the door away from the wall. By the time I got out my bedroom -- that's how fast they were -- they were already coming up the steps with guns this long in my face screaming and hollering at me, 'hold your hands up.' All kinds of stuff that I don't want to go into," says Bey.
But they had the wrong house.
Bey was overcome by the trauma.
"When I got down here to the living room, that's when I just fell on the floor and passed out," she says.
That wasn't her only trauma. Now more than a year later, the city still hasn't reimbursed her for the $3,000 door. Bey, who is laid off from her job as a librarian, struggles on unemployment. She says she got an apology, but it's not enough.
"What does that mean? I wanna ask you. If I kick in your door, what does an apology do for you?" says Bey. "That's disgusting. I do not want to hear 'I apologize.' What does that mean?"
Apparently, the city is insisting that Bey hand over her homeowners insurance policy. Bey insists that she has. But there's still no reimbursement.
Late today, the city issued a statement saying they've been trying to get Bey's insurance information for more than a year. It's required by state code before the city can pay damages. Bey confirmed with KDKA that she just recently provided her insurance information to the city.