Photo: Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office
If this was a page out of “Tiny-Housing Gone Wrong” or “History of the Dumbest Towing Fails,” it would probably be the front one. Two men in Louisiana tried to tow an entire house to a new destination, and ended up leaving a trail of destruction – and the house – behind.
It happened in Louisiana, in the Iberia Parish, near Lafayette, in the early hours of Sunday morning, May 22, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office says in a statement. Police were called before dawn by residents reporting a power outage and damage on the road, where someone was illegally hauling a house by truck.
When they arrived, they found Coteau Holmes Road blocked by a truck and a trailer loaded with the house. Apparently, someone had tried to move the house and was eventually deterred mid-way, after seeing the kind of destruction the trailer left in its wake, including downed trees and mailboxes, and ripped power lines. Some 700 residents were left without power after the stunt, but the police offered no estimate on the number of trees or posts downed.
The owner of the house, a certain Tony Domingue, was arrested, together with another man who helped him on his not-so-secret mission. Domingue was already on the authorities’ radar and had been warned multiple times that he’d need proper permits to relocate the house by trailer, which he did not have. He clearly assumed the operation would be successful if carried out in secret, at nighttime.
According to CLDLife, both men were booked into the Iberia Parish Jail and held on a $125,000 bond. They’re looking at charges of criminal damage to property, obstruction of highway commerce, and violation of parish ordinance, with more charges pending the conclusion of the investigation. For what it’s worth, in his booking photo, Domingue’s accomplice has a phallus-shaped tattoo on his nose. Decisions were made, and none was good.
Needless to say (but we’ll say it either way), don’t be this guy. Towing a house on a trailer is possible and safe, as long as it meets local legal requirements, but you can’t just put your large modular home up on a trailer and be on your merry way.
When they arrived, they found Coteau Holmes Road blocked by a truck and a trailer loaded with the house. Apparently, someone had tried to move the house and was eventually deterred mid-way, after seeing the kind of destruction the trailer left in its wake, including downed trees and mailboxes, and ripped power lines. Some 700 residents were left without power after the stunt, but the police offered no estimate on the number of trees or posts downed.
The owner of the house, a certain Tony Domingue, was arrested, together with another man who helped him on his not-so-secret mission. Domingue was already on the authorities’ radar and had been warned multiple times that he’d need proper permits to relocate the house by trailer, which he did not have. He clearly assumed the operation would be successful if carried out in secret, at nighttime.
According to CLDLife, both men were booked into the Iberia Parish Jail and held on a $125,000 bond. They’re looking at charges of criminal damage to property, obstruction of highway commerce, and violation of parish ordinance, with more charges pending the conclusion of the investigation. For what it’s worth, in his booking photo, Domingue’s accomplice has a phallus-shaped tattoo on his nose. Decisions were made, and none was good.
Needless to say (but we’ll say it either way), don’t be this guy. Towing a house on a trailer is possible and safe, as long as it meets local legal requirements, but you can’t just put your large modular home up on a trailer and be on your merry way.
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