A Winnipeg man who took to the roof of his property after the City moved in to demolish the house came down peacefully.

At about 11 a.m. Tuesday, said Winnipeg Police Cst. Jeff Norman, police were called to a home on Bannatyne Avenue after reports of a man who allegedly assaulted a City of Winnipeg property and planning department representative. The man then headed to the roof of the home but came down after emergency personnel lifted a basket to the top of the house at about 4 p.m.

A source told Metro Winnipeg the man’s son, along with the son’s pregnant girlfriend, were also in the house on the second floor.

Police did not release the man’s name or tell how he assaulted someone, but Imrie Demolition co-owner Jordan Imrie said the man began throwing six-inch glass blocks, the kind normally seen around bathtub surrounds, and one hit him in the head.

“I was wearing my hard hat, I heard the sound of something hitting my hat,” said Imrie, adding he was was not hurt.

A woman standing nearby identified the man on the roof as Ed Ackerman, and said she was his fiance.
“It’s easy to call someone who is standing on a roof right now crazy, but he is not a violent man at all,” said Lyndsay Ladobruk. “If he was throwing glass blocks, it was done in desperation.”

Ladobruk said Ackerman owns three properties that were deemed derelict by the City of Winnipeg, including the home on Bannatyne he was standing on. She said Ackerman was working on the properties to “build them (up) and have them rented” and had already sunk $50,000 into a home that was demolished on Gertie Street.

A second house owned by Ackerman on Frances Street was demolished on Tuesday morning, prompting him, she said, to flee to the roof to defend his last property.

Ackerman has been fighting with the City over the properties for a while, with it coming to a head in December after he asked the court for an injunction to keep the properties from being demolished. The court refused.

City officials said they followed all proper procedures before giving the demolition order under the city’s derelict buildings by-law.

Winnipeg police said the man faces charges of assault with a weapon and mischief under $5,000. A demolition crew moved into the area and it was expected the house would be demolished Tuesday night.