More than nine months have passed since a fighter jet crashed near a neighborhood outside Washington, D.C., sending debris raining onto homes -- but a homeowner still can't get his repair costs covered.
Two roofing companies told Clinton, Maryland, resident Reggie Stewart that his entire roof needs to be replaced. The work would cost thousands of dollars.
But he said his insurance company offered him only $676 after assessing damage to just a portion of the roof.
"Eventually I’m gonna look up and there’s gonna be a hole in the roof," Stewart told News4.
A military pilot crashed a D.C. Air National Guard F-16C fighter jet into a wooded area in Clinton, Maryland, the morning of April 5. When he had engine trouble as he approached Joint Base Andrews, he averted disaster by steering the crippled jet away from homes and into the woods. He parachuted to safety, and no one was hurt.
The D.C. National Guard awarded the pilot, Cpt. Jonathan Morgan, for his life-saving split-second decision.
"When I realized I couldn't make the field, I was looking outside the aircraft, trying to find a place to put it that would cause the least harm," he said at the award ceremony in December.
Stewart said officials at Joint Base Andrews told him they would help him.
"The Andrews Air Force spokespeople, when I met with them, they said that they would take care of this, and that was a promise that was made," he said.
News4 was at a community meeting held shortly after the crash. Col. Ernest Teichart spoke about how Joint Base Andrews would help residents affected by the crash.
"It would be wrong of us not to make things right for them, for the hardships they have experienced in that immediate neighborhood," he said.
A representative of the D.C. Air National Guard said Joint Base Andrews is working with Stewart and the process is ongoing.
Stewart's insurance company did not respond to multiple inquiries.
