Video shows drive-by illegal dumping outside Northeast Houston church
Illegal dumping is becoming a big problem for northside Houston residents.
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Surveillance camera footage from a church captures the moment when a white pick up truck with trailer in tow stops on a quiet road in Northeast Houston. The driver then begins dumping heaps of garbage, discarded clothes and broken furniture from the trailer onto the roadside, the footage, obtained by Fox 26’s Sherman Deselle, shows.
M.D. Morrison, Sr., a pastor at New Faith Baptist Church Northeast where the dumping occurred, told Deselle that illegal trash drops are happening more and more often in northside Houston.
“It’s been understood that the northside of Houston and other areas of color are areas where you can dump your trash with little to no consequence… There’s not a lot of traffic back here. There’s not a lot eyes on the situation, and they feel like they can get away,” Morrison told Deselle.
“It’s not nothing new,” another local told Deselle. “People are lazy. They don’t care no more…and there’s a sight where you can throw stuff legally not too far from here.”
Illegal dumping can come with some serious consequences: if caught, dumpers can face fines from $2,000 and $4,000 per incident, depending on the weight and type of trash they’re leaving behind, according to Fox 26.
Harris County Constable Allen Rosen acknowledged that illegal dumping is a growing concern in his precinct. “It’s frustrating, and it’s a quality of life issue for these neighborhoods,” Rosen told Deselle. “We can’t solve these cases exclusively by law enforcement. We need the public’s help. They’re sick and tired of it, and so am I.”