MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As car break-ins continue to plague the city, safe and secure parking continues to be a high priority for Memphians.
One renter says she found out she wasn’t getting the protection she thought she was paying for. On June 12, Theryn Bond says she woke up to find her car window smashed and parts ripped out from below her steering wheel.
“This is part of my steering column that is still missing from my car,” she said, displaying the broken piece. “It may be anywhere between $1,000 and $2,400 just to replace the steering column.”
This took place despite the fact her car was parked in a gated lot, which she says was one of the reasons she chose to live at the Pulse Apartments.
"Having gated parking was almost mandatory to my journey and to me feeling comfortable in a living space,” Bond said. “I asked if there were cameras — if there were things that protected the parking area. I was told 'yes.'"
Bond said Pulse residents can pay an extra $30 a month to park in the gated lot, which they are led to believe is monitored by multiple different cameras. A sign on the gate stating that the property is protected by these cameras is even visible to residents.
“There’s two on that poll there, there’s another right against the wall and there’s another one just over the edge of that gate,” Bond said, pointing out some of the nine different cameras visible from the parking lot.
But according to the report filed by the Memphis Police Department, the property manager told MPD the cameras had not worked in years.
Bond says she confronted the manager about this on Thursday.
“She then indicated that she never told police that the cameras did not work,” Bond said.
Bond says the manger then showed her one working hallway camera.
“She mentioned that even if there had been [a camera] covering my car, she would have to look through 24 hours of footage and she was not willing to do that,” Bond added.
Now Bond is considering legal action.
ABC24 reached out to former attorney Jamie Johnson, now with the Greater Memphis Housing Justice Project, to see if Bond could have a case.
“If they represented to her that she had a thing and then when it was broken, they knew it was broken and then they failed to fix it in a reasonable time, and as a result she was damaged, I think legally, technically, under the law, you've got a claim,” Johnson said. “I don't know that she has a claim for the car being broken into. She may have a claim that she didn't get the benefit of her bargain.”
Bond says this issue is bigger than just her experience.
“The residents deserve to know what type of building they're living in,” she said. “They deserve to feel safe.”
ABC24 spoke with the apartment manager, who said that any official statement to the press would need to come from Stella Maris Property COO Pam Anderson.
ABC24 reached out to Anderson but she has not responded as of press time.