RACINE — A Racine woman says she has lost her car, her job, and her home after her vehicle was frozen to a city street for more than a week last winter — and she is now asking the city for compensation.
"Coming back here, seeing this, I'm shaking, just being back at the site where this all happened," said Chris Daugherty on Thursday.
Daugherty's Fiat was frozen to Anthony Lane in Racine starting January 24, when she noticed ice piling up outside her apartment. She was not able to move her car until a local landscaping company helped her on February 2.
The ice damage totaled her car, making it difficult to get to her jobs in Kenosha. Without work, she lost her apartment.
"So right now, I literally have nothing, nothing," Daugherty said.
Daugherty filed a claim with the city for $27,000. She says that's to cover the cost of an equal-value vehicle, lost work hours, and to compensate the crews that helped extricate her car and the people she's been staying with.
The city attorney's office recommended that her claim be denied.
City documents explaining the city attorney's reasoning state in part: "Upon inspection by the City, it was determined that the source of the water was a sump pump that was discharging from the property at this location. As such, the owner of 2700 Anthony Lane may be liable for this damage, but the City is not."
TMJ4's Lauren Sklba contacted local managers of The Maples Apartments, who confirmed the city came out to inspect but said they found "There was no excess water being processed."
Watch: Racine woman loses car, job and home after vehicle frozen to city street for more than a week
Daugherty disputes the city's position.
"Yes, the water came from the apartment building, but the water was on a public street, where I was legally parked, which is the city's responsibility to keep up," Daugherty said.
A city spokesperson said in an email, "Under current policy, Public Works addresses frozen sump pump discharges when the accumulation extends into or impacts the driving lane of the roadway. In this case, the discharge area did not extend into the driving lane, so no additional action by Public Works was required under the policy."
"The city knew that there was a problem, and they didn't do anything," Daugherty said. "And that's what I'm upset about. They don't want to take any responsibility."
The city attorney's office also stated Daugherty did not file an itemized claim, which Daugherty also disputes.
The city's Common Council on Tuesday voted to send Daugherty's claim back to the Finance and Personnel Committee, which has voted to disallow her claim once before.
"I hope they do the right thing and approve my claim," Daugherty said.
Daugherty says she will be at Monday's Finance and Personnel Committee meeting to continue her fight.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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