HARVEY, Ill. —
Rudolph Williams says he was home in a Chicago suburb when he realized the doors and windows to his courtyard-style apartment had been boarded up with plywood, locking him inside.
"I didn’t know exactly what was going on," the 73-year-old said Monday in describing how he tried to open his blocked door. "What the hell?"
His story — chronicled by his nephew on now-viral videos — has generated a firestorm of criticism about rental conditions at the dilapidated low-income apartment complex in Harvey, Illinois. People are also debating who’s to blame; and Mayor Christopher Clark has promised an investigation.
City officials, residents, property owners and the property management company have conflicting accounts about what happened Friday at the 30-unit complex roughly 48.28 kilometers 30 miles) south of Chicago.
