AUSTIN, Texas — A broken sliding glass door, for some, is nothing more than an inconvenience. But for one Austin woman, she said it was a safety issue that put her life at risk.
"I had talked to my property manager several times, telling them about the issue with my door and nothing was done about it," the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said.
It's a situation that forced her to speak up and take legal action.
"If they had come to fix the door, I honestly think that I probably wouldn't have been in that position," she said. "Someone broke in and assaulted me while I was asleep in my bed."
The woman said she saw the red flags at her now former apartment complex. But she never thought what she claims to be a failure to repair the door would lead to a memory she'll never be able to forget.
"I started screaming at him, 'Who the [expletive] are you?' That's literally the only thing that I could say. And I just kept repeating it over and over and over again," she said.
She fought until the man ran off. But even after the ordeal, she said the complex refused to take responsibility.
"I feel like this was your responsibility and you didn't do your job, and you have to be held accountable for that," she said.
The complex used to be known as the Menlo at Mueller apartments, owned by Clear Property Management. It's since been sold to a new company and its name has changed.
KVUE asked the previous owners for a comment about the lawsuit, but we have not heard back.
But for the woman, who only wants to be known as M.K., the broken glass door didn't completely shatter her. It only left her wanting to fight so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
"I'm proud of myself for fighting," M.K. said. "Fight for yourself because you might be the only person fighting for yourself."
M.K.'s attorney noted that the Austin Police Department (APD) did make an arrest in her case, and the suspect had placed hidden cameras around other apartment complexes where he had been peering into windows.
APD told KVUE it can't release details of an ongoing sex crimes investigation.