PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — “My son could be dead. A 5-year-old,” said David Grant.
Grant said his son Zykari Cooper, was sitting down in the living room, and using a tablet when the apartment ceiling fell on Zykari, in late June.
“Hit him in his head, with nails and all this other stuff,” Grant said. “It’s blood all on the kitchen floor. It’s blood all on the doors. It’s all a 5-year-old(s) blood.”
The incident happened at the Grand at New Port apartment complex.
Grant said Zykari had to get staples in his head from a gash and has a knee injury after the ceiling fell on him. He also said his son is traumatized from the incident.
“They was terrified,” he said.
Grant said his son’s mother, Ebony Cooper, lived at the apartment with Zykari, and Zykari’s sister.
Grant walked 10 On Your Side through the apartment that was covered in debris. He said for months Ebony complained about the ceiling.
“Right here was a big bubble. It was like a bubble sitting down here. And all the way here the roof wasn’t even a straight. It was dipping in,” he said, pointing to the area where the ceiling later collapsed.
Grant said when the family told maintenance the response was, “oh, it’s not gonna fall in.”
He wished the apartment would have responded differently. “When you seen this roof was like this, you should immediately say, ‘look man, we got to get him out of here ASAP.'”
However, a spokesperson for Starock Group says once the apartment found out about the ceiling, they told the family another apartment was move in ready.
Documents provided by the company show Ebony put in a work order request for ceiling damage on May 25. On Friday, June 16, Ebony Cooper came into the Grand New Port leasing office to see if she could transfer onsite to another apartment home due to her ceiling bubbling from a previous water leak.
A Starock Group representative said in an email, in part, “After speaking with Jeff, he said that he was aware of the ceiling and that it would be best to have her transfer since it would be easier to perform work without the resident residing in it. I informed her that I would get with the maintenance team on which one I could transfer her into.”
Documents show that on June 19, the maintenance request was labeled as “completed.”
On Monday, June 19, I called Ms. Cooper to let her know that I had 2 options for her and that they were both ready for her to move into. She chose #905-A after viewing the apartment home. When discussing move-in dates, I told her that the apartment home was ready to move in to. She then said that she preferred to move in on July 1st rather than sooner knowing that her apartment was in the condition it was in. The new lease was immediately sent to her and she signed it on June 21st to begin on July 1st.
Starock Group representative wrote in an email
Cooper said the apartment wouldn’t let her move in until she paid a $190 transfer fee that she couldn’t afford until the first of July.
On Thursday, June 29 at 11:45 a.m., Ms. Cooper came into the office with another gentleman saying that the ceiling collapsed on her son last night and that she called the office and left a message. We apologized sincerely and told her that her new apartment was ready to move into and she said that she didn’t want to move into it anymore and just wanted off the property completely.
Starock Group representative wrote in an email
The family has decided to completely move out.
Grand at New Port was previously called Marsh Landings. The name changed when the Starrock Group took over the property. The company says they are working to fix issues left over from the previous owners.
