Thursday’s livestream by free range grandmother, first amendment advocate and sometime homeless advocate Regan Benson saw the Colorado native actually interact with an actual homeless person during an extended livestream that resulted in multiple shouting matches in downtown Denver.
Benson started the stream accompanying a woman named Katie who had been evicted from her apartment in January when police came to her door with a warrant to search for what Benson claimed was a meth lab in the apartment. She was taken to a squad car as almost a dozen police officers streamed through her apartment looking for anything to charge her with.
They ultimately said they found unspecific “paraphernalia” and charged her with possession. Police then sealed her apartment for apparent methamphetamine contamination, allowing her to retrieve her cat and not much else.
While she can’t access the apartment, Katie is still responsible for paying rent on the apartment along with utilities. Earlier in the day on Thursday, the charges against Katie were dropped at a court hearing.
The livestream began as the two women walked into Denver’s Wellington E. Webb municipal office building. The women were at the building to bring an update on Katie’s case to the Department of Health and Environment office and to see if Katie could get access to her belongings now that the charges against her were dropped.
Benson seemed especially irritable as the livestream began but kept things in check as she was greeted by someone at the office of the Department of Health and Environment who left to track down his supervisor to see if the woman could help Katie further.
After a discussion of Katie’s situation as the women waited, Katie seemed to want to get a new apartment and stop waiting for Denver to decide on what to do with her old apartment. Katie said she was currently living with a friend in a situation that would eventually have to end.
Katie said she would prefer to live in a single-family home rather than apartment because she was done with humans as they sucked. Benson agreed with her, then said it would be easier to find her an apartment.
Over the course of the livestream, Benson would advocate for Katie to abandon her claim on her belongings and said that they’d just hold fundraising livestreams to replace the items that were in the sealed apartment.
After a brief wait, the Department of Health and Environment worker greeted the women with his supervisor. Before the supervisor could assess the situation, Benson declared that there was no longer a situation because the charges were dropped against Katie and she needed immediate access to her belongings.
The supervisor stopped Benson and explained that until they got further word from Denver’s Police Department, they could put in a request for Katie to access her apartment to retrieve limited pre-approved items, but not for unsupervised access to the sealed apartment.
Benson verbally attacked the woman, cutting her off and dismissing her on the spot. She called the woman a worthless government welfare whore, threatened a lawsuit against the department and continued her rant as she led Katie out of the office and down to her car.
Once outside, Benson drove Katie to Denver’s City and County Building where she led the now homeless woman to Mayor Mike Johnston’s office. Greeting the receptionist, Benson requested to see either Mayor Johnston or Senior Advisor for Homelessness Cole Chandler.
During the wait for Chandler, Benson briefly insulted an unidentified person she claimed was a security agent for the Mayor who was seated directly behind her.
Chandler arrived and ushered Katie and Benson out of the Mayor’s office as two police officers entered and locked the doors of the office. Benson announced that Chandler had no choice but to help out as he knew Benson and that Benson tenaciousness meant no easy out.
The public servant took Katie’s information and said he’d be in touch before exiting for a meeting.
Benson and Katie would then make their way to the court level of the building, looking for city council members. When Benson met up with another homeless advocate and YouTuber, police asked them not to film near the courts, which brought a swift rebuke from Benson.
She later voluntarily exited the building with Katie to bring her livestream to an end.
