'That's my life': Pothole damages Greenfield man's $25K wheelchair

GREENFIELD, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A mangled sidewalk and large potholes along a stretch of Layton Avenue caused major trouble for one Greenfield resident.

"Trying to get somebody, somebody to make claim to their responsibility of these streets and sidewalks," said Shawn Golla.

Golla is bound to a wheelchair and contacted CBS 58 in January about a pothole down the street from his Greenfield home.

"Bounced over one pothole right into the big pothole; the front of my wheelchair hit and flipped me forward," said Golla.

Golla said the incident in December near a Milwaukee technical college damaged his customized wheelchair, costing him nearly $25,000.

"That’s my life, that's my transportation, that’s how I get to go to my doctors' appointments and go to get my groceries, everything," said Golla.

The former EMT reached out to Milwaukee County to make a claim for the damaged chair, but received a letter, which read in part:

"Please refer your claim to the city of Greenfield or to the private residents, as Milwaukee County does not maintain sidewalks along Layton Ave."

Eddie Santiago, highway director with the Milwaukee County DOT, said the "private resident" is the technical college.

"They are responsible for maintaining that walkway clear. It's no longer the city of Greenfield responsibility to maintaining, but the owner themselves," said Santiago.

Through multiple emails, CBS 58 reached out to the college. Its executive director, Dan Large, said in an email last Wednesday, "we are unable to comment on the situation at this time."

That same day, the county patched the mangled pavement and is set to submit the bill to the college.

"We will be billing the private owner for the maintenance that was needed, because they didn’t have a response time for us, they didn’t provide a timeline, they didn’t want to take responsibility for the issue," said Santiago.

But while the pothole is gone, Golla's wheelchair is still broken.

"They've taken my ability to be independent. For being a guy who has always been in service to others, helping others, I like to be able to not have to rely on others to now take care of me," said Golla.

Milwaukee County DOT said they do have plans to do roadwork on Layton Avenue.