Sheriff Sale Postponed For Poplawski House

STANTON HEIGHTS (KDKA) -- The house on Fairfield Street in Stanton Heights looks as it has for the past two years -- a boarded-up eyesore and a reminder of the tragedy that claimed the lives of the three Pittsburgh police officers.

Fatigued neighbors who had hope it would be sold or torn down will have to wait after a petition from Margaret Poplawski delaying the sheriff sale.

"It's always been quiet neighborhood and we were all shocked at what happened and we would like things to be over," said Branislava Simic.

In her petition, Poplawski says the house is quote "uninhabitable" "because of the action of the city" and that the city has caused her to lose the equity in her home.

The city law department would not respond because of a gag order in the criminal case except to dismiss the charge as untrue.

City SWAT officers did in fact riddle the house with hundreds of rounds, but in response to the shooting of the three officers. In her court papers, Margaret says she bears no responsibility for the actions of her son Richard.

In a separate suit filed against Allegheny County, she blames a 911 dispatcher failing to notify the responding officers that her son had guns in the house. These legal claims of Margaret Poplawski outraged law enforcement officials KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan spoke with on Friday, but none would comment because of the gag order and the sheriff sale has been postponed indefinitely.

So for now and into the foreseeable future, the boarded up house will remain as a grim reminder of the tragedy on Fairfield Street -- not a fitting memorial to the officers who gave their lives two years ago.

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