Blind man dropped off at wrong home by taxi service

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (KSAZ) - A Queen Creek mother was home alone with her two kids and called 9-1-1 after watching a man try to open her front door.

Pinal County deputies confronted the suspected burglar who was trying to get into the home; he thought he was going into his own house.

It turns out the man is blind.

It's the case of a mistaken address that resulted in the incident. The man uses a cab company to get to and from his doctor appointments, the cab company has it on record that is is blind, diabetic, and has to go to his dialysis appointments three times a week, but he doesn't always get the same driver.

His address and home are nearly identical to another house a block away. So when the taxi driver dropped him off at the wrong house, he had no idea.

"What happened if somebody would've actually shot him, or the cops tasered him, he doesn't look blind, he looks kind of scary," said Nicky Holakeitual.

She's glad her husband William eventually made it home safe after a taxi driver dropped him off to the wrong house. William lives on Meadow Land Way, for some reason the driver took him to Meadow Lark Way.

"Everything felt the same, I followed the garage, followed the wall, walked up to the door, the doorbell is the same side, everything just felt the same," said William Holakeitual.

It's no surprise that William thought he was home, both homes have similar layouts, the positions of the garage, the front door, even the side of the street are all the same.

So William kept trying to unlock the door with the key.

"So I kept shimmying it, and shimmying it, hoping it would work," said William.

On the other side of the door was a terrified mother.

"He knocked a couple times, he rang the doorbell, I know I don't open the door to people that are strange men, especially that are a lot bigger than me," said Melissa Marviglia.

"All I knew is I was home alone with my two girls so I called 9-1-1," she said.

Two Pinal County Deputies arrived and confronted the confused man.

"Trying to tell them I'm blind, so they're like put your hands up, so I put my hands up, I tell them I'm blind, I'm blind, one is like where's your stick, I said I don't have one, I lifted my glasses and said see look at my eyes, I'm blind, I can't see," said William.

The deputies searched William then dropped him off at his house. He and his wife are grateful he made it home alive.

"Even the cops say you know you're lucky you didn't get shot, because the homeowner, it could've ended up worse," he said.