James Rhein, New York recently
has been tagged the Demolition Man. He was arrested by police for demolishing
his family house without telling the wife as well as the local authorities for
permit.
The Middletown Police
Department says
that when officers arrived Monday at the property owned by 48-year-old James
Rhein's (rynz) wife they found him using an excavator to knock down the house.
Officers say he didn't remove any household items, such as furniture, food and
belongings. Instead, he dumped everything into large construction debris bins.
He claimed that when he went
for the permit that the local authority’s office has closed and he started the
demolition anyway.
Rhein took
matter in his own hands and the 48-year-old left his distraught wife screaming
in the middle of the road after she discovered he had razed the 840 sq ft home
in New York on Monday.
When
quizzed as to why he had not told his wife - who was the legal owner of the
property - about his plans, he told local news channel WNBC: “I tried calling
her, she didn’t answer the phone.”
It
has been reported that the home was demolished with most of his wife’s items
inside.
He claims that the house has
gone to state of disrepair and demolishing it becomes imperative.
Neighbour
Steve Belfiglio told WCBS: "He bulldozed all her clothes in there, the
washer, dryer, furnace, hot water heater, all that.
Everything
was still in there. In fact, her medication was still in there.”
It is
thought that Rhein had notified gas, water and electric companies as all lines
were shut off before demolition took place. No-one was injured.
Rhein however did not believe
he committed any offence when he said that the police over-reacted.
He was charged with criminal
mischief and released on $300 (£198) bail.
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