KENTWOOD, Mich. — Back on Monday September 19, the brick light fixture at the end of the Solomon’s driveway had been knocked over and broken in half by a Rapid Go!bus.
After dozens of phone calls and emails, homeowner Brad Solomon said it’s still lying on the ground four weeks later.
“It’s been a goose chase. Just kept being diverted to somebody else, somebody else, somebody else,” Solomon said during an interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday. “And really all we wanted was to get it cleaned up. At first, we didn’t even want it rebuilt. Just remove it so no one gets hurt on it and nothing more gets damaged on it. And, we’ve really not gotten anywhere.”
Solomon said it happened around 3:47 p.m. that day. The incident occurred in a matter of seconds and it was all captured on his home surveillance video.
“The bus drove in and you can see the monument fall over. He pulled in, pulled out and left,” Solomon said. “There’s a daycare next to us. There’s a fire hydrant over there. He could’ve been trying to avoid that. He could’ve knocked it over and not really known that he had done it.”
Immediately, Solomon called the police and filed a report. Then, he reached out to The Rapid.
“They deferred us to their contractors MV Transport. They were in the process of leaving Michigan. They’re based out of Dallas, Texas,” Solomon explained. “We’ve left multiple messages and left emails and really no response for about four weeks. And, finally the VP of MV, he emailed me with the claim number and the insurance company’s name.”
So, Solomon called the insurance company, he said, leaving them two or three messages. However, he didn’t hear back from them until Tuesday of this week.
“Finally I got a telephone call back from the insurance company, who said ‘Well, give us 24 hours.’ Again, that’s true and I don’t know what’s going to happen in 24 hours,” he said. “I haven’t seen anybody. No one’s reached out to us to see what’s going to happen to get it resolved.”
FOX 17 reached out to The Rapid as well, who said they weren’t involved and to contact MV Transportation.
FOX 17 then reached out to MV. They replied via email stating that they are aware of the incident and “we have provided them with details for submitting a valid claim for reimbursement. We understand from our adjuster that they were in contact earlier this week.”
Solomon said he’ll be waiting to hear what they have to say.
“The City of Kentwood tends to, with these kind of things, want to issue tickets for having things not cleaned up,” Solomon said. “So, without any process of getting it cleaned up — you know, where to go with it and whom to talk to — we’re a little worried we’re going to end up with some kind of ticket out of it.”
MV also stated that their contract with the Rapid expired on September 30 of this year.
As for the Solomons, they’ve hired an attorney and they’re hoping MV or The Rapid pays for the damage and removal.
“It’s disheartening the fact that we’re constantly being diverted to somebody else,” Solomon said. “It somewhat unfair that we have to run around to do all the chasing on this thing when we really didn’t cause any of the damage.”
