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Cleveland man says neglected city-owned property led to his serious injuries

Posted at 8:11 AM, Jul 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-17 08:47:45-04

On Your Side Investigators uncovered a dangerous problem in a Cleveland neighborhood. It’s so dangerous that an elderly man on the west side has significant injuries that he says all stem from neglected city-owned property.

As we found out, there are multiple issues facing neighbors there.

"There’s fluid there. They said it’s going to get worse,” said 70-year-old Patrick Murphy as he showed us injuries to his elbow, scrapes and bruises along his arm and even his knee is banged up.

The pain? "Excruciating! It was horrible," Murphy said.

Murphy told us he was walking home last week at night along W. 106th Street and he didn't see a major section of metal fence sticking out. "All of a sudden… bam!" he said. Down he went tripping over the fence.

We found two large sections about 90 feet and 50 feet long now on the sidewalk. The city owns the property and neighbors are not happy for many reasons.

"You can’t really see what’s going on around here,” said Dalontay Edmond who lives on W. 106th Street.

That's because right beside the downed fence and broken sidewalks, the trash is dumped all along the street and next to the crumbling asphalt sits a large city-owned field with tall weeds growing everywhere. 

It used to hold Midland Steel. The city paid millions to clean it up and has been trying to sell the industrial site for several years.

"Can you please clean this up so our kids don’t get hurt?" pleaded Kayla Matrawley.

"It’s ridiculous!” said Edmond. “Yeah, somebody down the street got a fine for having their grass…it was high, above code but still it’s not as high as this,” he continued as he pointed to the 6 foot-tall weeds.

"I don’t know if there’s nerve damage. It’s hard to move my hand,” said Murphy who’s trying to heal. He’s still wondering how this all happened in the first place.

"It makes no sense! A sidewalk…you’re walking down the sidewalk you should be safe,” Murphy told us.

News 5 has reached out to the city of Cleveland for comment and action on the property. City reps said they are checking on it.