I-Team

I-Team: A Call for Help

MIAMI (CBS4) ― It began with the best of intentions -- a local cell phone give-away for the disabled, blind, frail, and even abused. They came to the New Horizons Apartments in Liberty City to pick up the donated phones, so that in any emergency -- like a fire -- they could call 911 for help.

CBS4 Chief Investigative Reporter Michele Gillen prepared for her live report, but was worried the elderly might trip over the station's TV cables, so she asked that the rear door be opened.

And there, the unexpected unfolded. Incredibly, no one could find a key, so Gillen searched for another door and found it was wire-locked by coat hangers.

"Does that make you feel safe?" Gillen asked a resident.

"That glass door back there? What? Oh my god," the resident replied.

Keep in mind, this was in the community room of a low-income housing apartment building that caters to the disabled and is subsidized through H.U.D. by federal taxpayer dollars.

As fire chiefs and staff handed out those 911 phones, property management had to drill open the lock, and then tried to pick it open.

"Here we're giving you phones today to help you in an emergency, and we're going to have you in a room where you couldn't get out of? Doesn't make any sense," Gillen told a group of New Horizons residents.

After all that, a jack hammer was used to drill away cement that was blocking the door from opening.

Before he left the cell phone event, Gillen informed Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez.

"They couldn't find the key at all?" he asked Gillen. "No," she replied.

"I'm not a police officer, but I know wire hangers shutting any kind of egress door, that's a no-no," Gillen told Commissioner Martinez.

"That's a no-no. That is a no-no," he said.

Later that day, after informing the Miami-Dade Fire Department of CBS4's findings, the City of Miami was called because New Horizons is within the City's jurisdiction. A Miami fire inspector showed up, apparently not too happy to see our cameraman.

But the good news is the coat hangers were removed, a proper lock would be installed, the blocking cement was chipped away, and a different Miami fire inspector turned up and wrote up several violations – handing them to an on-site manager.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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