Lawsuit: Mistake Reduced Home’s Value

The mother of the man accused of murdering three Pittsburgh (Penn.) police officers last year is suing the city, claiming a dispatcher’s mistake led to a shoot-out that damaged her home, reducing its value and forcing her to live elsewhere. Margaret Poplawski says she told a Pittsburgh dispatcher that there were guns in the house, but that information wasn’t relayed to officers. When three officers arrived, her son Richard Poplawski fired at the officers, killing them. A subsequent stand-off included hundreds of shots being fired into the home before Richard surrendered. Evidence technicians later removed porch railings and other pieces of the home, rendering it uninhabitable, the lawsuit claims. Margaret Poplawski says she was forced to move out and now the home’s original $64,500 value has been reduced. The murder trial is scheduled to start later this year. Read more about the lawsuit here.