Bodycam video shows encounter with woman living inside Michigan store's rooftop sign for a year

Body camera footage captured the moment when officers discovered a 34-year-old woman living in a Michigan supermarket's rooftop sign.

The over seven-minute footage obtained by MLive shows officers with the Midland Police Department approaching the back of the sign located on the roof of a Family Fare Supermarket in Midland on April 23. When one of the officers approaches a small door, he says, "Unlock it for me please." A woman's voice is then heard saying, "I'm trying to."

About 30 seconds into the footage, the woman, whose face is blurred, opens the door and says, "I was trying to get my stuff so I can get down right away, I'm moving out of here in 24 hours to get away from all of this." The officer responds to the woman by saying, "You're coming out right now."

The woman and officer then go back-and-forth with her explaining how she did not "want to leave her stuff." The officer then communicated what the Family Fare Supermarket's manager told him, which is that the woman living on the roof is a "big-time liability issue."

"She wants you gone," the officer told the woman living on the roof.

'How are you getting up and down off this?'

In response to the officer and the manager's demand, the woman said she would leave but had to "go talk to her boss" before vacating the sign. The officer explains to the woman she "has no time," she's coming down with them and that the manager will collect her belongings. The woman could come back in a few days to get her items, the officer says in the video.

"You're on their property so you have no standing whatsoever," the officer told the woman.

During the conversation atop the roof, the officer asked the woman, "First of all, how are you getting up and down off this? And how are you going to carry all this stuff." The woman did not directly answer the officer's question but said it would take a "few hours" to pack and move her clothing, "bedding stuff," vitamins and other belongings.

Desk, flooring, pantry found inside the space

Brennon Warren, a spokesperson for the Midland Police Department, previously confirmed to USA TODAY the woman also had a mini desk, flooring, a pantry of food, a printer and a houseplant in the supermarket sign.

The officer told the woman her move-out plan was "not going to happen." He then detailed how people in the area spotted her on the roof and nicknamed her the "Roof Ninja." The woman is heard in the video laughing at the nickname.

Before coming down, the woman alerted the officers that she had a sword in her living quarters. "It has not been used," the woman said.

Woman told officers she lived on top of roof for 'about a year'

The woman, who was not formally charged, was trespassed and the officer said she'd be arrested if she returned to gather her remaining belongings without the store's management calling first.

"(The manager) is being super cool," the officer told the woman. "When we get down there and we chat with her she's going to tell you where your stuff is going to be."

When the officer asked the woman how long she'd lived on the roof, she responded, "About a year."

"I'm not damaging anything," the woman is heard saying in the video.

'It's not for everybody, it's not even for me'

Officers also discussed with the woman how she managed to stay warm during the winter, the cleanliness of the sign and how her living space smelled like "garlic or something."

"It's not for everybody, it's not even for me," the woman told the officers about living in the sign.

Near the end of the video, the woman is seen stepping out of the sign wearing ski goggles and an all-black outfit, including a head covering.