GPS coordinates lead demolition crew to destroy wrong house

Tired of blaming GPS on petty mishaps like the destruction of cars, a demolition crew in Georgia has managed to accidentally destroy an entirely wrong house based on GPS coordinates. Oddly enough, it wasn't even the first time they'd been by: the man who cuts the grass noticed that the power box was missing from the home and holes were punched into the walls about a month ago -- it was suspected as vandalism, but it now seems that the stealthy, directionless demolition company was to blame. The demolition company says it had "paperwork" authorizing the destruction, complete with the coordinates and a description of the home, which the owner's father had built with his own hands "brick by brick."

[Thanks, Leonard]

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 15th 2009 12:03AM]

"To even HINT at implicating the innocent homeowner for ANY of the results of the demo company's incompetence is pathetic. More so when you are making things up out of whole cloth regarding what the owner did or did not do. That's just malicious."
Foosebtng

Im not making things up... I did assume though. I assumed that if he did go there, and did care so much about the items inside, then a little more effort should have been made on his part to find out what was going on. Maybe talk to a neighbor? See who has been around the house? If anyone else in the area had been vandalized?
And if so, ask if the culprits responsible had been caught so he could pursue a civil suit for reparations for the resulting work needed to fill in the holes and damages done by removing the Electrical box.
Again not something we know if he did or not; but seems like common sense stuff to do in a situation like the one he found himself in when he forst heard of the damage.

Did he fix the holes? If indeed he was there to inspect the property after he was told of what happened? I know it may be too much to expect from a demo company that would demo a house based on GPS co-ords, but wouldnt they have noticed...
"Gee Cleatus, did you done see?" " See what, my brother who's also my father and my babies daddy?"
"Someone done filled up them holes we dug outs before. Filled em up good, like I did your sister last night"

"[Al] assumes some dumb vandals were breaking things just to break things. Since nothing inside was damaged or missing, he patches the holes and goes home. No point in calling the police when there's no chance of catching the vandals" - Foose

What was that you mentioned earlier about making things up of whole cloth regarding what the owner did or did not do?

[ktappe Posted Jun 14th 2009 2:13PM]

Before any house can be demolished, all utilities must be cut off. This isn't just regulations but it's for the safety of the workers and neighborhood. Imagine running a bulldozer through a house with active natural gas lines....BOOM.

So before this company could accidentally demo the wrong house, they would have had to accidentally disconnect the electric, phone, water, gas, and/or sewer. Those disconnects, arranged for with the utilities themselves, do not use GPS coordinates, they use *addresses*.

Basically this story begs credulity.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 14th 2009 5:54PM]

I would be fucking pissed off and I would sue or ask for compensation for such a big mistake. That's some fucked up shit

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 14th 2009 6:45PM]

Whoa,

My Grandpa built is house by hand. When he died they kept the house, and it is in very good condition. One time a rock got thrown a window. And you know what. We boarded the window up. Why? We didn't have money at the time to fix the window and the house is 250 mi away from our home. We fixed it up the following summer.

Do any of you idiots condemning the owner realize that maybe he just didn't have money to keep the lights on or to fix the holes and that maybe he had plans to move in there someday? Also, lots of sentimental things are kept in our grandparent's house. Do you realize that maybe he doesn't have time or money? I think assuming it is vandalism is a good assumption. He definitely deserves more than his house was worth, maybe not enough to move into a mansion, but definitely double the value.

[I program in 0100001001101001011 Posted Jun 14th 2009 11:08PM]

Excellent spoof of "Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy"! :D

[Harrison Posted Jun 15th 2009 12:00AM]

What matters is not whether or not the guy lived in the home, it's that they tore down the wrong house that matters.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 15th 2009 11:38AM]

Funny thing is...that is 5 miles away from my house!! Bout time someone puts Carrollton on the map!!! Woop Woop!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2009 9:06AM]

Coordinates for address? If they got the wrong house, maybe the person writing the coordinates was using the wrong datum. Perhaps the person writing the document was using NAD-27 and the crew was using WGS-84. The Garmin eTrex has 110 different datums, so the datum used must be specified in the paperwork.