'Hi, I'm with the city and ... Look out!'

Mostly I just like the pictures on this one. And the headline.

'Hi, I'm with the city and ... Look out!'
BY KIMBALL PERRY
The Enquirer
June 14, 2007

Albert Taylor was just trying to do his job when he showed up at Ronald Brown's Westwood home last week.

Taylor, a Cincinnati building inspector, was at Brown's McHenry Avenue home taking pictures for evidence that could lead to the house being demolished as unsafe.

That, police say, is when an irate Brown told Taylor he would shove the camera down his throat and threatened him with a metal pipe or tool.

Taylor called police.

They arrested Brown, charging him with aggravated menacing and obstructing official business. A grand jury will hear his case today.

Brown

Taylor

Even though the city doesn't keep statistics, public employees say it's common for them to be threatened in the line of duty.

"I myself have been verbally abused," said William Langevin, director of Cincinnati's Department of Buildings & Inspections.
...
When Taylor showed up May 30 with a camera and started taking pictures of two more Brown-owned houses on McHenry, police say Brown exploded.
Taylor was documenting, among other violations, that the houses were fire hazards because there was a live extension cord strung between them so one house could use electricity from the other.

Taylor said he stood on the sidewalk and never went on Brown's property as Brown raised a metal object as if to hit him. Inspectors never go onto someone's property without permission or a search warrant.

"A man's house is his castle. Government intrusion into your castle is not well-received," Langevin said.