Disabled veteran loses his possessions in a curbside fire after his eviction
STURGIS, Mich. (WWMT) — The contents of his apartment were stacked on the curbside, but before a disabled veteran who once called Quail Run II his home could move the belongings, someone doused the pile with gasoline and lit a match.
"I seen him, he was sitting in his chair. He didn't want to leave his stuff. I can understand, that's all your possessions," said Clint Parsons, who lives near the apartment complex.
Parsons said the gentleman, a U.S. Air Force veteran, told him his rent hadn't been paid in almost a year, even though he had a caregiver who was supposed to be handling his affairs.
According to Disability Attorneys of Michigan in 2015 there were 82,952 homeless people in Michigan, and 5,291 of those were veterans.
St. Joseph County Veterans' Affairs Director Stoney Summey said the county's transitional housing program provided secure, safe housing to 28 veterans throughout the first nine months of 2019.
Summey said the veteran who was evicted from Quail Run II on Friday, is paralyzed, and now brings to six the number of homeless veterans in St. Joseph County.
The veteran was given 24 hours to get his belongings outside of the apartment after being evicted and was waiting for an acquaintance to pick them up, Summey said.
"Sometime in the evening someone poured gasoline on everything he owns and started a fire," Summey said.
A woman who lives nearby, and who wished to remain anonymous, said she walked past the commotion.
"He was watching a female like build stuff into a bonfire," the woman said. "It made me feel like whoever that lady was setting up his stuff, it made me feel like in my gut that maybe she was the one that set it on fire."
The veteran didn't lose everything though. Parsons offered to keep some of his more valuable items while others were salvaged.
"Military pictures, we salvaged a few of those," Summey said. "I found his high school diploma in the pile. Social Security card and there were a few letters that he received when he was in the military."
Summey said the community was also quick to offer help, after he posted a picture of the burned belongings on social media.
"Pretty amazing, within minutes hundreds of messages people wanting to know what they could do to help," Summey said.
Summey also said St. Joseph County looks out for those who served our country.
"Someone that does something like that to a veteran in this county, they will pay," Summey said.
The Sturgis Police Department is asking anyone with information about the fire to contact them at 269-467-4195.
