Woman discovered residing inside rooftop grocery retailer signal
Police bodycam footage has been released showing the moment a homeless woman was found squatting inside a Michigan rooftop grocery store sign.
The 34 year old, whose identity remains anonymous, had been living behind the triangle-shaped sign – approximately 5ft wide and 8ft high that has a door accessible from the roof – of the Family Fare supermarket, located in Midland, a city approximately 130 miles north of Detroit.
The woman had turned the crawl space into an apartment, which included flooring the woman had laid down, bedding, a houseplant, clothing, a Keuring coffee maker, a desk, a printer, and a computer. She was resourceful, utilizing a power cord plugged into an outlet on the roof to use the grocery store’s electricity.
The vagrant would have not been found had it not been for a contractor who was performing a routine maintenance check up on the grocery store’s roof.
‘It was crazy. I about had a heart attack,’ the worker told police officers, per MLive. ‘This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever found.’
Police bodycam footage has been released showing the moment a homeless woman was found squatting inside a Michigan rooftop grocery store sign.
The 34 year old, whose identity remains anonymous, had been living behind the triangle-shaped sign – approximately 5ft wide and 8ft high that has a door accessible from the roof – of the Family Fare supermarket (pictured), located in Midland, a city approximately 130 miles north of Detroit.
When the woman emerged from her makeshift home, she was wearing an all black ensemble, which included a ski mask, a puma track suit, Adidas track pants, gloves, and ski googles – an outfit she wore because she claimed she was allergic to the sun, according to police.
Footage obtained by MLive documented the entire incident, from the moment police congregated behind the store to make a game plan to the moment the women was escorted out of the space she had called home for over a year.
‘She’s got a whole set up in there,’ the manager tells police, requesting that the police remove the woman in a peaceful manner. The manager reiterated that she didn’t want the situation to escalate, but unfortunately she had to ask the woman to leave as it posed a liability to the store and its employees.
Contractors told police that the woman refused to come out from the sign. Police then revealed they had received calls about this squatter over the past year based on the description the contractors gave them.
The manager said she had called the police to remove the woman before but she had left without a trace before cops arrived.
The woman had turned the crawl space (pictured) into an apartment, which included flooring the woman had laid down, bedding, a houseplant, clothing, a Keuring coffee maker, a desk, a printer, and a computer
The woman left without protest, and her whereabouts are unknown
Law enforcement was able to convince the woman to open the small metal door to the sign. They said were impressed by the squatter’s ‘apartment’ she fashioned herself, calling it ‘pretty genius.’
Officers assured the woman that they would gather her belongings and deliver them to her. She admitted that she was trying to get away from people, and politely asked them not to contact her family.
‘At this point, you’re not in any trouble whatsoever,’ the officer replies. ‘You’re an adult. I don’t need to tell anybody your business.’
The women, who described herself as homeless, did not divulge how she has been getting on the roof, but she did refer to it as ‘an old safe spot’ but did not elaborate further.
Officers appreciated her compliance and kindness. Despite getting evicted from her shelter, she still offered the officers non-alcohol ginger root beverages, to which cops politely declined with a chuckle.
They also complimented her clean space, joking that she ate healthier than they did.
‘Believe it or not, you got a nickname,’ an officer said to the woman.
‘Oh, what’s that, Spider-Man or something?’ she sarcastically retorted.
‘No, Roof Ninja. Tell me that ain’t cool,’ the officer said with a smile, to which she agreed that it was indeed a flattering nickname.
She refused to admit how she managed to scale the roof: ‘I really don’t want to say in the event of needing to get up here at some point.’
When she got back to the ground, the woman apologized to the manager for meeting her under such conditions, to which the manager was sympathetic.
Although she told the woman she was not allowed back on the property, the manager encouraged her to find a safer place to stay.
Officers appreciated her compliance and kindness. Despite getting evicted from her shelter, she still offered the officers non-alcohol ginger root beverages, to which cops politely declined with a chuckle
Although the manager told the woman she was not allowed back on the property, the manager encouraged her to find a safer place to stay
‘Trust me, it’s safer up there than it is on ground level right now,’ the woman said, revealing that she ‘can’t go to [shelters or soup kitchens].’
The woman was not issued a citation as she left without protest.
After the story went viral, Family Fare donated $10,000 to Midland’s Open Door, a homeless shelter in Midland. The shelter’s executive director told MLive that she reached out to the woman but she refused the help.
