Contractors from Lowe’s tears down Deaf woman’s roof by mistake

On Monday, Kathleen Brockway, a Deaf woman from Bowie, Maryland, woke up to see a roof contractor crew from Lowe’s tearing off her roof. They had the wrong address.

When Brockway went out of the house to stop the crew, she fell on a tarp on the floor and broke her ankle.

“The Daily Moth” got this information from other people and reached out to her.

KAT BROCKWAY: When I woke up, I realized that someone was demolishing my house. I was so confused. I walked outside onto the front porch.

I saw that there was a tarp set up to my left so I couldn’t walk around my house. I tried to yell for the crew to stop.

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Several of the workers stared at me with a confused look on their faces. I tried walking up to them, but I tripped over the tarp and fell because the ground was uneven. I guess the sidewalk had already been dug out so I fell into the ditch. Again, I repeatedly screamed for them to stop. They froze when they saw me screaming for them to stop.

Then they called their boss who later arrived at my house. I was sitting on the ground in pain wondering what was going on. The boss was confused and showed me a copy of the order. It had my address on it but had the wrong name. I told them they had the wrong house. I didn’t know who that person was. They were absolutely stunned.

My friend, who’s a cop, came to interpret for me because her wife is deaf and they lived nearby. She tried to figure out what happened and he said I never made that order and that they had the wrong address. They were very apologetic and tried to work it out. The owner of the house down the street came running up to me saying it was their house that was supposed to be worked on, not mine. They said they had supplies ready and waited for the crew to arrive. The crew said they knocked on the door, but of course I didn’t answer because I’m deaf!

I was injured and went to the hospital. I couldn’t walk at all because both of my feet were injured. When I was at the hospital, I was surprised to find that my ankle was broken. It is broken! So now that was double the mess for me.

Alex: Thank you for sharing, Brockway. That’s probably one of the worst mornings anybody could ever have. We agreed that this was a “Deaf Bing.”

Brockway: That’s perfect! Deaf Bing! I can’t hear them knocking on my door and they went along with their job without my knowledge. That’s Deaf Bing right there!

Alex: She said she is in touch with a personal injury attorney and will work towards getting the entire roof replaced, not just half, because the color doesn’t match.

She said she had to miss one day of work because she couldn’t drive the car. But now she said she is getting better with the help of a walker.

She said she is thankful to her friends and neighbors for helping her.

The Daily Moth reached out to Lowe’s public relations office for comment, but did not get an immediate response. If they respond, I will add it to the comments.

She is a Deaf author and has a website at katbrockway.com if you want to check out her work or reach out to her.