An explosive expert was arrested this morning in Greenville, North Carolina after he set more than 5 tons of TNT in the wrong building and blew it up.
According to his colleagues, 51-year old Marty Daughtry was visibly intoxicated this morning when he showed up to work, but that was not unusual for the demolition team foreman.
Recognized as an expert in his domain, Mr. Daughtry has led several major demolition projects over the years.
He is known to have a severe alcohol problem but is usually able to get the job done, so his coworkers were still confident when they decided to let him manage the demolition of a 6-story apartment building.
Unfortunately, Mr. Daughtry was unable to remain concentrated on the job at hand and had his employees set the explosive in the wrong building, leading to the demolition of an entirely occupied 36-apartment building.
Fortunately, there was no one inside at the time, but the mistake has left dozens of families homeless and caused over $4.5 million in damage.
Greenville Police Department spokesman Lieutenant Gary Walters commented the incident in a press conference a few hours after the arrest.
“The accused was too drunk to pay attention and he didn’t even get the address right. It’s a miracle that all 36 apartments were vacant when the guys blew it up. That drunkard could really have killed several people!”
Marty Daughtry now faces a total of 98 criminal charges, including 79 charges of criminal neglect endangering the life of others, on for each of the destroyed building’s tenants.
If found guilty on all charges, he could face a fine of $3,450,000 and a sentence of up to 425 years in prison.
He is expected to appear in court in March for the beginning of his trial.
