LONGMONT, Colo. (KDVR) — A Longmont man said his home is unlivable after it was shot with tear gas six months ago during a barricade situation involving a man he didn’t even know.
Rick Flannery said the man who barricaded himself was trying to buy furniture from his ex-wife when police found his car parked outside their home. He had warrants out for his arrest but refused to leave the home.
Police negotiated for nearly five hours before they deployed tear gas through the windows and doors of the home. The damages, Flannery said, were extensive.
“It looks like a war zone in there,” he said while FOX31 met with him outside of his home.
Insurance covered the initial cleanup of the damages from the tear gas, but Flannery said it took some time.
“We could not even come close to the house, go into the house for it was 32 days before they finally got started on the cleanup and it was another two to three weeks before we could even go into the house,” he said.
That timeline led to other issues inside the home, such as frozen pipes.
“It was just at that time of year when we got that hard freeze it was early December because there was no heat being able to be supplied to the house because of all of the busted windows the pipes froze,” Flannery explained.
“When the pipes froze it flooded everything downstairs, 3 feet of water under the house, all the sheetrock on the lower floor,“ Flannery said.
Every interior wall had to be cut out due to the water intrusion at the bottom. Insurance said he’s at fault for the busted pipes since he didn’t secure the pipes. Flannery ended up paying out of pocket for the repairs.
Flannery said his insurance was supposed to cover his living expenses until the damages were fully repaired, but after that cleanup happened he said it was far from livable. The boarded windows and torn walls, and floors as his main reasoning.
“To say my house is livable is an insult and a slap in the face,” he said.
Flannery hopes this serves as a warning to other homeowners to check their policies and be sure they understand them.
“I want them to take care of what I have been paying insurance on for nine years. Everything related to tear gas they covered initially, they covered the cleanup, I don’t understand. Everything else that’s happened is associated with the tear gas,” he said.
FOX31 reached out to Flannery’s insurance company, Homesite, on Friday afternoon and didn’t hear back. We reached out again Saturday morning, but their resource officer doesn’t work on the weekends. We will continue to reach out.