Leaking blood spooks tenant

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This article was published 17/02/2020 (2070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man was startled Saturday night when blood began seeping through his bathroom ceiling.

Adam Hockett had been in the room no more than half an hour earlier, but the next time he walked in, he saw what he immediately knew was blood leaking down on to his sink, splattering down the wall and onto the clothes he’d set to dry on the shower bar.

“I was hoping it wasn’t what I thought it was,” he said. 

Hockett’s fears were later confirmed: the person living in the unit directly above his had died. Police arrived at the St. Vital complex and after about three hours, after forensic identification officials arrived, the body was removed.

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Jay Murray said the tenant’s death is believed to be non-criminal, and officers are still attempting to contact the next of kin.

Hockett said his primary concern was his neighbour’s and their family’s situation — “I don’t want anyone to feel bad for me,” he told the Free Press — but still, he found himself in an uncomfortable predicament he never could have anticipated, and temporarily, without a place to stay.

Initially, he said the building’s rental agency wasn’t as helpful as he’d have hoped given the circumstances.

He said he and his building’s caretaker called 911, and were waiting for emergency responders to arrive. He said they were able to contact the caretaker’s supervisor with Sussex Realty, recounting the details of the situation. Hockett said that conversation didn’t lead to a resolution, so he called the supervisor himself.

“He kept talking in circles, refused to give me anyone else to contact and kept telling me, ‘just contact your insurance it is not my problem,’” Hockett wrote in a Facebook post. “Or wait till Tuesday.”

“He kept talking in circles, refused to give me anyone else to contact and kept telling me just contact your insurance it is not my problem.”
– Adam Hockett

Hockett then said he told the supervisor that “not only is it not feasible to live in that suite for three more days” due to sanitation concerns, it brought up traumatic memories of a death he’d seen as a member of the American military. That, according to Hockett, led to the supervisor reiterating it wasn’t his problem to deal with.

Sussex Realty issued a statement late Monday saying it has been working towards a resolution for Hockett. 

“We are aware of the incident at one of our properties and the graphic images that have been shared on social media. The incident was understandably traumatic to the resident in question and also for the friends and family of the resident above,” the statement said.

Sussex said it received word of the incident Saturday evening and dispatched a professional cleaning company Sunday morning.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to those involved.”

The Facebook post quickly went viral, shared over 4,000 times by Monday afternoon, and Hockett said a representative from Sussex got in touch.

On Monday, he said he’d been offered an early release from his tenant agreement, with a prorated payment of February’s rent, and said the company would cover the cost of cleaning his apartment and his personal property. That agreement still had to be finalized, he said.

While police were called to assist with the body’s removal, Murray said the cleaning of bodily fluids in situations such as these is not the responsibility of law enforcement; secondary companies are usually enlisted to do the clean-up while co-operating with forensic investigations.

Murray confirmed police and its forensic identification unit had responded, and that the chief medical examiner’s office had been informed of the death. However, because the next of kin of Hockett’s upstairs neighbour had not yet been contacted, the exact location of the incident is not being released by police.

For now, Hockett has found another place to stay temporarily, and was sent hundreds of messages offering him help.

The building’s supervisor said Monday that as soon as he got clearance from police to do so, a company was brought in to decontaminate both Hockett’s and his upstairs neighbour’s unit.

“The blood’s been cleaned up,” he said.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca