(WSVN) - After decades of peaceful living in a Davie neighborhood, a veteran says his civil rights are now being violated by his homeowners association. 7’s Kevin Ozebek has the story.
Park City Estates is a quiet retirement community in Davie that John Curtis has called home for 21 years. The disabled Navy veteran owns a three-bedroom trailer.
John Curtis: “I’ve always found it to be very peaceful.”
His friend, a Marine veteran who wants to keep his name private, moved in five years ago.
John’s roommate: “I do enjoy living in this area. It’s a nice place.”
John’s roommate does all the things John physically cannot do, like take care of the yard.
John Curtis: “Very reliable, very helpful.”
But when John’s friend lost his job as a helicopter pilot, he became depressed.
His estranged wife, knowing he had four legally registered guns at the trailer, called Davie Police to do a wellness check.
John’s roommate: “They were very nice and concerning for my health.”
The police report says, “Due to … the amount of firearms involved, a perimeter was established at John’s residence.”
Neighbors were alarmed when Davie Police surrounded the trailer, but the roommate “voluntarily agreed to surrender his firearms.”
The officer also noted that he “suffers from [post-traumatic stress disorder]” and, in his opinion, was a “threat to himself or others.”
John’s roommate: “I said, ‘Am I going to jail?’ And they’re like, ‘No, we’re taking you to the hospital.'”
Police took John’s roommate to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he was evaluated and released.
He says he is not a threat to anybody.
John’s roommate: “The day I walked out of the Marine Corps is the day I stopped any physical form of violence.”
The next day, John Curtis got a letter from Park City Management Corporation.
John Curtis: “It told me that I have to evict him from my house by July 1st, or they will take legal action against me.”
John’s roommate: “I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”
The letter says, “Park City Estates checks the background of every resident,” adding, “Your action of renting to an unregistered tenant has put the entire park in danger.”
John Curtis: “Fine, we can send him down there to register if that’s the problem. We don’t care about that. They can know who’s here; I don’t care, but they can’t tell me he can’t be here.”
John Curtis, a Gulf War veteran, feels his civil rights are being violated.
John Curtis: “I spent most of my adult life fighting for my country. Who are they to tell me who can live in my house?”
7News reached out to Park City Management for comment. The attorney for the homeowner’s association would not give us an interview but pointed us to these HOA guidelines: Park City “is a single-family community,” and they “have the right to obtain an injunction for removal of any persons that would make the park property non-conforming.”
But John says other owners have people living with them. Now his roommate isn’t sure what to do.
John’s roommate: “I don’t want to cause any problems for him, because he’s been here 20-something years.”
Both men say they want to avoid going to court. The attorney for the HOA says, if John’s roommate is not out by July 1, legal action will begin.
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