Photo Courtesy of WFAA
On May 8, Brianni Bonner said she came home to her apartment at the Riviera Apartments on Audelia Road in Dallas to find her locks changed and her belongings put in the dumpster.
The apartment complex claimed that the situation was caused by a maintenance mix-up when crews were sent to paint a vacant apartment, according to WFAA.
“The maintenance man pulls up and tells me I’m going to go to jail because it’s against the law for me to get into my apartment,” Bonner told the outlet.
Bonner, a 23-year-old, single working mother to her 4-year-old son, Izi, said she lives in apartment 1721.
Management said they were supposed to evict apartment 1712.
“She told me it was a big mistake. It was an accident. They meant to evict the apartment underneath me, but they evicted me by accident.”
Bonner mentioned that when she went through her belongings in the trash, she found her medication for PTSD and anxiety.
“I can’t even explain to you the depression it’s caused,” Bonner described.
Bonner filed a police report after most of her belongings were taken, with the rest dumped in the dumpster, including her son’s toys.
“I feel like everything was taken from me,” she explained. “It doesn’t feel like home anymore.”
Bonner then attempted to contact management, and although they did not answer or attend to her when she tried to visit them, they later attempted to compensate her.
“She told me, all they would be able to do for me is to give me a $200 Visa debit card. It was definitely a slap in the face,” Bonner said.
She was later allowed to return to the apartment, but it was not the same. It was empty and repainted.
After the press aired the incident, the apartment complex released a statement.
“Since learning about the incident involving Brianni Bonner and her young son, our senior management team has been trying to reach out to Ms. Bonner to apologize and address the problems caused when our staff mistakenly emptied the contents of the wrong apartment,” the statement read.
David Margulies with the Riviera Apartments admitted that it was, in fact, not an eviction mistake.
He said that the maintenance crew was sent to paint an empty apartment but went to the wrong apartment. That’s when the crew decided to empty the apartment to paint the unit, under the excuse that there was minimal furniture.
Margulies said representatives for the complex met with Bonner on Friday to mend their mistakes but were referred to her lawyers.
“We want to offer our sincere apologies for the way the situation was addressed once the error was discovered and are attempting to contact Ms. Bonner to discuss how we can fairly compensate her and her son,” the statement from the complex said.
“In addition, we are reviewing our procedures to see if additional safeguards or training are necessary to help make sure this type of incident is not repeated.”
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Bonner said she’s traumatized and is doing her best to get back on her feet after being left homeless.
“I’m paying my rent; I’m trying to save up to go to school. It’s so stressful, and I have to start all over,” she said.
Bonner set up a GoFundMe fundraising campaign, hoping to buy toys and necessities for her son to survive meanwhile.
She currently has exceeded her goal of $20,000 and is now at over $40,000 raised.