Ravenna man’s ceiling collapsed on him while in the shower, claims he warned landlord

RAVENNA, Ohio (WOIO) - A Ravenna man said his bathroom ceiling collapsed after months of pleading with his landlord to fix it.

While he was in the shower Wednesday, Sean Carter said his ceiling came crashing down on him.

“I’m in the shower had my phone on, music just vibing, minding my business, and whoosh,” Carter said. “It was quick. I thought it was an animal like the way this came down and the sound that it made I thought it was at first an animal that was stuck up in there and it came down.”

Carter said after his bathroom ceiling collapsed on top of him, he went straight to the emergency room and learned he had a concussion.

Texts from November between Carter and his landlord shows he had been asking him to fix it.

Carter said for the past two months every time his upstairs neighbor took a shower; his bathroom would flood.

“I remember when the ceiling was just completely white,” Carter recalled. “It was smooth and then you start to see puffy areas around it so I sent him a recording, a video and I said this is a problem and then I seen a little bit of water leaking, it was just a little bit of water at first but it just got worse and worse over time.”

He said he told his landlord right away. He said his landlord looked at it and said he would be back, but never returned.

“I told this man several times that this was gonna come down,” Carter said. “I didn’t think the news was gonna make it here. The only thing on my mind was to send that video straight to him and say I told you so.”

When Carter texted his landlord that his ceiling had collapsed on him his landlord replied, “looks like my job is half done.”

“If you knew my landlord and how bad he treats me, you wouldn’t be shocked,” Carter said.

Carter said his landlord came the day it happened, put some tape up, and then it flooded again and he just left it a mess.

He said after asking his landlord if he had any insurance, he told him he was evicting him.

“He just didn’t care,” Carter said. “This is how he left it and then told me I had to move out.”

19 News went to his landlord’s home to get his side of the story.

“It’s all cleaned up and I fixed it,” James Gardner, Carter’s landlord said. “It’ll be fixed tomorrow by a plumber.”

We asked him why he didn’t fix it two months ago.

“I couldn’t get to it,” Gardner said. “I couldn’t get to the problem.”

We asked him if he told Carter he’d evict him.

“Every month I try to deal with him,” Gardner said. “There’s another issue. He’s always looking for something.”

The landlord claimed he didn’t tell Carter he was going to evict him but told him to go somewhere else if he’d be happier somewhere else.

Stay with 19 News for updates on this story.

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