Activist for the homeless and YouTube personality Regan Benson returned to her old stomping grounds of the Englewood, Colado, Civic Center Monday night to give a fiery speech on behalf of a homeless woman and herself in front of the Englewood City Council.
Benson started her Monday livestream by declaring that she thought she was taking a “break” from her work with the homeless but was brought back into helping as she learned the story of Crystal Havis, a 42-year resident of Englewood who was now homeless.
Havis alleged that she was evicted from her grandfather’s home last year after neighbors complained about the state of the property and that criminal activity at the property was bringing home values down in the area.
According to Havis, there was a dog fighting incident at her property involving her son and one of his friends. When police came to investigate, it set in motion a series of events where her property was quickly condemned and her family was given notice that they had to vacate the property.
Havis claimed that her 92-year-old grandfather was placed in a nursing home against his will and that the property was condemned without giving the family the opportunity to fight the action. According to Havis, she was given an opportunity to gather belongings at the house but was prevented from going inside to retrieve her purse after collecting her cat from inside the house.
Both Havis and Benson addressed the Englewood City Council Monday night. Havis said that she had been living on the streets of Englewood for months in a tent. She complained that Englewood police had been harassing her and that she had nowhere else to go since the property she lived on for most of her life had now been condemned.
After her speech, Englewood City Manager Shawn Lewis directed her to the police representatives stationed at the back of the room to see about getting access to her house in order to retrieve her purse, which contained her money and ID.
Benson’s speech mentioned Havis briefly and said that anyone who backed the actions of the police against Havis and her grandfather could burn in hell. She called out the corruption she saw in the Englewood City Council and stated that multiple lawsuits were either filed or in the process of being filed against the city.
She then chastised Englewood police chief David Jackson for responding with a form letter to the assault report she submitted to police. Benson would later reveal to her audience that she sent a demand to the entire city council, city manager Lewis and Chief Jackson for a response to the report within 24 hours, which prompted Jackson’s response.
She finished her remarks by calling Englewood Mayor Othoniel Sierra “scum” for backing the actions of police and complaining that no one on the Englewood City Council “took her serious.”
When Havis finished her remarks, she made contact with police sergeant Adam Wright. She told Benson’s viewers that Wright took her contact information but was less than helpful as he was one of the officers on the scene of the eviction and claimed that she had “plenty of time” to retrieve her belongings on the day of the eviction.
After the encounter, Benson and Havis asked the police officer who was working security to contact Englewood’s on-call homeless advocate for further help. The officer complied and later contacted the pair with an update indicating that the homeless advocate asked for Havis to come to the Englewood police headquarters to meet and go over resources that the city could provide to her.
Benson told the officer that Havis would not go over to the police department and then berated the man for not doing more to help Havis. Benson screamed that the officer was a “piece of shit” and he could “tell Sergeant Adam Wright to go suck a dick too” before storming out of the civic center.
Havis and Benson then drove over to Havis’s grandfather’s property. The windows of the home had been boarded up and a fence was put in place to block access to the garage at the back of the property.
Benson berated the city of Englewood and declared that the city council could “burn in hell” before ending the broadcast.
