Was the city of Detroit too efficient in this instance or just oblivious to the possibility of arson?
Steve Neavling reports that most fire-ravaged buildings that collapse in Detroit are left to languish for a year or more.
But he writes that this was not the case at the fire at an apartment building at 4110 Beniteau, where a blaze ripped through the two-story brick structure on Tuesday night, displacing more than two dozen residents.
He writes that while the building was still smoldering, demolition crews started knocking it down, much to the surprise of arson investigators.
“We’ll never know what happened now,” an arson investigator told Neavling, requesting anonymity because Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration has threatened to discipline firefighters and arson investigators for talking to the media without permission.
The city has been on a big push to demolish vacant buildings around the city.
But could it be that oblivious to the need for arson investigators to check out a fire of that magnitude?
The building has a dark history, Neavling points out.
In May 2011, Freddie Young, who won $1.8 million from a Mega Millions lottery ticket, fatally shot the building's owner, Australian Greg McNicol, his daughter was evicted. Young was sentenced to 25 years.
