COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Columbia Housing Authority says it's working to make sure that there is never a repeat of reporters being arrested on their property in the pursuit of seeking public documents.
This comes after two WLTX reporters were arrested Tuesday.
CHA attorney Bob Coble brought up the incident Thursday at a meeting with residents discussing the overall problems at Allen Benedict, which had to be evacuated after two people died and multiple gas leaks were found.
"Earlier this week two reporters for were detained arrested on the Allen Benedict Court site," Coble said Thursday night. "We have apologized as you know. We have met with the security, the private security, to make sure they know that you can't do that."
"You can't have a repeat of that. It should never happen again. Of course the reason there is security is that the site has to be protected, but obviously reporters who are looking for information that is stored on the site have to be able to have access as a reporter."
"We certainly apologize for that, and we believe that through talking to the security we can make sure that that does not happen again."
WLTX reporters Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis were arrested by Columbia Housing Authority police Tuesday while trying to access the building that houses the public documents released by the Columbia Housing Authority earlier this week for Allen Benedict Court apartments. Those records had previously been made available to all media for review. We returned Tuesday to try to access more of those documents.
Those documents contain, among other things, maintenance records for the buildings there. This month, it was discovered that multiple gas leaks existed on the property.
Our reporters knocked on the door, but because the office appeared to be closed, our staff began to leave the area. That's when they were stopped by Columbia Housing Authority police and arrested.
The reporters were not transported away from the scene nor booked at the jail.
Hours after it occurred, the Housing Authority issued an apology. WLTX accepted their apology and said “ We are looking forward to working together with the Housing Authority to immediately go through all the public records for the benefit of the residents.”
The effort Tuesday was part of a push by News 19 for answers and documentation pertaining to Allen Benedict Court Apartments, where two residents were found dead on January 17.
On Monday, Richland County coroner Gary Watts confirmed that Calvin Witherspoon, Jr. and Derrick Caldwell Roper, who lived at Allen Benedict Court, died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. Their bodies were found inside their units on January 17.
The men lived in separate units in the J Building, separated by one vacant unit.
Citing an "imminent danger to life," more than 400 residents of Allen Benedict were evacuated after multiple gas leaks were found in the wake of the men's deaths.
Carbon monoxide, missing smoke alarms, charred closets, and infestations were among nearly two dozen violations at Allen Benedict Court highlighted in a Columbia Fire Department letter to Columbia Housing Authority.
News19's Deep Dive Team uncovered a limited history of work orders from Witherspoon. From January to April of 2018, Witherspoon reported issues with his heating system and water heater at least six times.
RELATED: Allen Benedict Court work orders show history of maintenance issues at deceased resident's apartment
Residents at Allen Benedict Court were told last Friday they would never be able to go back to their homes because of the serious and life-threatening code violations that fire officials discovered there.
A class-action civil suit was filed last week against the apartment complex, alleges the housing authority was "negligent, careless, grossly negligent, reckless, willful, and wonton" in failing to maintain and address hazards there.
News 19's Deep Dive team is continuing to review other documents from the Columbia Housing Authority.