A disabled veteran was left in the swealtering heat for nearly two weeks without an air conditioner at his apartment in Southfield.
"Yesterday I was getting delirious.. it's just like being in hell I guess," said Charles Josey, who lives at Pine Aire apartment complex.
When 7 Action News stepped onto the property to check out the problem, management immediately told the team it had to leave, forcing the interview with Josey, a disabled veteran, to take place outside.
Nearly two weeks prior, the air condition unit in his apartment went down. But despite the senior's repeated requests for a fix, he says he was met with a shocking response from management.
"He told me to stop calling and he said, 'when is your lease up?' I said my lease is up in October. He said, 'I want you to move,'" Josey said, recounting the conversation.
With no family in the area, Josey says he was forced to muddle his way through with floor fans amid a dangerous heat wave in early July.
"Mostly I’m at home," he said. "I don’t work. I’m disabled. I got wounded in Vietnam. I was feeling a little frustrated."
So he called Channel 7 to take action, then notified management that 7 Action News was on the case.
"That's when he started worrying. I said I was going to call y’all. 8 o'clock this morning he was knocking on the door apologizing," he said.
The tip that 7 Action News was on the way was seemingly enough to get a heating and cooling technician on the job just before Channel 7's cameras arrived and the A/C back up and running a couple of hours later.
In a statement to channel 7, Pine Aire management said their outside contractor had been... "inundated with numerous A/C calls... due to....unseasonably hot temperatures throughout that week. In addition, the Fourth of July holiday and the upcoming weekend further delayed...being able to service the tenant."
But Josey says he's at peace knowing he can finally rest easy.
"I'm glad I called y’all and got relief, so I certainly thank you," Josey said.
==
Need help? Contact our Call for Action News team by emailing tips@wxyz.com
