Former tenants react to collapsed apartment

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - Former tenants of The Davenport, Mia Lugo and James Champion, are reflecting on their time inside the now partially collapsed apartment complex.

“It was really hard to hear the news and know that not everyone is okay,” Lugo said. “It just kind of shakes you. My apartment was one of the ones that collapsed. The floor tilted downwards slightly towards this parking lot, so if you set something down it would roll a little bit. I’d walk up all the five flights up and down every day. People’s dogs went to the bathroom everywhere, and nobody cleaned it up, no matter how many times you call the landlords. They didn’t care about the pee in the elevators. The place was just really filthy.”

Champion said he kept having a feeling that the apartment was going to collapse.

“On the ceiling, there was, like, brown from a water leak and then it started leaking on my floor,” Champion said. “So I contacted the maintenance guys, and they were like, ‘Oh, we’ll get it fixed. It’s just something small. We’ll get it fixed.’ They never came up or tried to fix anything.”

Both Lugo and Champion moved out long before The Davenport collapsed.

“I just wish that they accelerated the search more,” Lugo said. “If those people were going to be rescued, we need to help them. The neighbor living next to me is Branden, who they are still looking for. It’s just heartbreaking.”

“They need to pay everybody for what the damages are done,” Champion said. “They need to pay everybody to rehome, re-establish themselves, and get them what they deserve, replace everything.”

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