A fence crew outside Joliet grabbed hammers and a chainsaw and tore apart the wooden fence they had just finished building, after the homeowner allegedly refused to pay for the job. The confrontation, captured on video near the 3400 block of Regan Road in unincorporated Will County, has since been viewed by millions of people online and drawn the attention of the Will County Sheriff's Office.
Cesar Diaz, who is associated with Diaz Fence LLC, said his father's company had contracted him and other workers to install the fence, according to FOX 32 Chicago. Diaz said the homeowner reported scratches and dents on one of the gates and claimed the fence work had not been completed correctly. As Newsweek reported, Diaz and his workers were recorded breaking the panels down after the payment dispute escalated, with the fence located just outside Joliet's town limits.
Diaz has said the damage amounted to little more than cosmetic flaws. “They were just little dents,” he said, according to FOX 32 Chicago. He added that Diaz Fence LLC offered to repair or replace the affected parts, and that his father could have fixed the damaged gate, but the homeowner refused that offer and instead told the crew to come back and take the fence down.
Hammers, a Chainsaw and a Dispute Over Payment
Video of the incident shows the crew knocking panels off the posts with hammers and a chainsaw while the property owner shouted at them, according to Politicom. The outlet reported that the homeowner allegedly refused to pay for the completed fence, though the homeowner has not been publicly identified and has not given his own account of the payment dispute.
Diaz said the homeowner threatened to call the police and, per Diaz, did call them, but the responding officers never arrived at the scene, FOX 32 Chicago reported. Diaz maintained that he and his crew simply expect to be paid for their work. FOX 32 Chicago reporter Leslie Moreno sought comment at the homeowner's residence Thursday, but no one answered the door.
Conflicting Accounts of an ICE Threat
An online rumor claimed the homeowner threatened to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the workers, but Diaz has denied that any such threat was made, according to FOX 32 Chicago. Newsweek, however, reported that the property owner allegedly threatened to call immigration enforcement because the workers were immigrants. Politicom noted there is no independent confirmation that ICE was ever contacted, leaving the question unresolved.
The Will County Sheriff's Office is investigating the fence dismantling, though the outcome of that inquiry has not been made public.
Video Spreads Nationwide, With Diaz Drawing Support
The video was posted to Instagram by Cesar Diaz under the handle @el.compa.cesar, according to Politicom, and its reach has been reported inconsistently across outlets. Politicom cited figures topping 17 million views, while Newsweek separately reported roughly 32,000 shares and about 1 million likes, and FOX 32 Chicago reported the clip received nearly 20 million views online. Diaz said he has received support from people across the country since the footage went viral, though he added a note of caution about the confrontation itself. “I'm not saying this is the right way to go,” he said, per FOX 32 Chicago.
The Illinois dispute drew comparisons to a March incident in Cambridge, Maryland, involving a homeowner and federal agents at a work site, as reported by Yahoo News. In that case, the homeowner was reported to owe workers $10,000 for a three-day job. A separate account from Politicom said six Guatemalan workers were detained on her roof during that incident.
