‘No respect for us’: Crews destroy belongings of homeless hours into Las Vegas cleanup

Hours after Clark County began its sweep through an East Las Vegas wash and underground area known as a popular campsite for homeless people, Scott Branner, watching from a nearby parking lot, slouched in a tattered lawn chair and frowned.

Branner, joined by friends who had also lived in the wash, had moved all his belongings from under the tunnel near Cambridge and Flamingo roads above ground. Their group awaited a U-Haul truck when Metropolitan Police Department officers confronted them. Most of them, scared of law enforcement, quickly scattered, Branner said.

Minutes later, a garbage truck with the county’s logo arrived, and workers in neon green vests and blue hard hats chipped away at the four-foot-tall pile made up of Branner and his friends’ coolers, blankets, wheeled storage containers, and bikes, feeding each item to the vehicle’s backside.

Afterward, Branner sat just slightly down the street. To his right, two large dogs and one small one lay on the pavement before an overflowing tall red crate and blue wagon, representing everything he saved from being discarded. His friends who had previously left the area rode by on bikes, learning what had happened.

“It’s so messed up,” Branner cried. “I have the dogs, so I couldn’t grab much. My friends, though, they lost everything.”

Meanwhile, city and contract workers stood inside the wash about a hundred feet away, directing heavy equipment scooping garbage — plastic bottles, baby strollers, futon cushions, and more — into a dumpster and out of the muddy basin.

‘No respect for what we have’

During a contentious neighborhood meeting the night before, county officials and law enforcement shared that crews of first responders and workers would start clearing the wash of its homeless population.

In the past, they could not enter the underground area because of unknown, dangerous conditions. But Metro Lt. Erik Perkett noted that on Tuesday, the crew would have all the equipment they needed, including hazmat suits and robots that test for methane.

Perkett said authorities didn’t know what they would find there, but called it “an uninhabitable place.”

During the meeting, some residents said the outsiders were intruding on their property and alleged that some were committing crimes against it. They argued that the county camping ban, enacted three months ago, was not working.

The ordinance, which bans camping in places such as trails, parks, underpasses, washes and tunnels, was approved by the County Commission on Nov. 5.

Some attendees worried about what would come next for those kicked out of the wash. Army veteran Evelyn Pacheco asked if the county would provide mental health resources and social services.

“What about the mental part? These people have been living (underground),” Pacheco said.

Watching the cleanup in action, Branner said the crews had not handled the situation sympathetically.

“There is no respect for us or what we have,” Branner said. “They think, ‘Oh, he’ll just get another one,’ but it’s not that easy. Some of my friends were getting back on their feet, and now they have nothing.”

As he spoke, abandoned suitcases and carts lined Cambridge Road as people trickled out of the area.

“If someone went into one of their homes and did this, they would have a fit,” Branner said.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.