Bad Neighbors

[wndrlandcat]

It's all about documentation, get security cameras(we got some from sams club) that you can hook up to your computer to record, focus them in on your driveway, mail box and front door etc. When he's tailgateing snap a pic with your cell phone, keep track of any phone calls with your caller id. Then take all of your info to the "appropriate people". Good luck and stay safe.

 

[mays]

Dear Original Poster,

My heart goes out to you. We too had this happen to us, with what started out as just odd, strange behavior, turned out to be very violent. We had local LEO involved but when you live in the big city with a murder a day, a person harrassing us, tampering with the mailbox, escalating threats and bad behavior... In the beginning everyone that knew about it laughed or thought it was a joke....even the LEO told us to grow up and not call them (including a day when he was on our deck with a steak knife cutting the screen to get into my house) (I was on the other side of a locked, bolted sliding glass door and the LEO said didn't see him do it ma'am) After that we got a security camera for the front and back of our house just to keep an eye on OUR PROPERTY noone else(got them on the internet set up to an old vcr). We were able to prove he was setting his poop on fire on my property.. reading our mail...

We wera able to get a Peace Warrant, and unfortunately through the work of others in the neighborhood worked with the mental authorities to have him committed.

Be safe.. We stayed in the situation for too long, and looking back on it now, with we had done more early on, including pushed the LEO for assistance, and moved. The day he was committed he attempted to assault my DM and DH along with a neighbor's child with his vehicle and then a metal pipe... What seems pretty annoying now can turn in a minute, so please be safe.

 

[Grendalynn]

I can relate! We have a neighbor, who tried letting himself into our house in the middle of a black out/windstorm at 2 AM! The weirdest hing is that he only had boxer shorts on! Mind you we had 20 feet of snow at tha point and it was waaaay below freezing with the wind chill... I posted about this last Ferbruary... it was very scary!! No lights, no phone, no nuttin and here was this dude in his draws trying to push his way into our home! Very Scary! Sounded like a Dateline story at the time. A life changing experience for sure - we knew all of our neighbors until they moved in that November. We found out the next day from the police officer that he was actually a Skitophrenic.... whats that old saying, "Love thy Neighbor?" Not so much in our case!

I say call the police, document everythng and take pictures if needed. This guys sounds like he is a few sandwiches short of a picnic!?

 

[firstadventure]

I'm sorry you're going thru this. I think if he were following me every time I left the house, I'd probably start calling the police and reporting a drunk driver. Or tell them what he's doing and that you don't feel safe. I can't imagine they would ignore that.

And I thought I had a creepy neighbor! Apparently yours is worse...he's actually a stalker. Yikes! Be careful.

 

[jboysen]

This may not quite be the way to go, especially with kids in the car. Do you have good insurance? When he's tailgating you, I'd just slam on the breaks and let him hit you. If he's been drinking they'll bust him for it. Make sure to have your cell phone ready to call a LEO and tell them he's quite erratic and to send some one right away. Like I said may not be the best way, but it could get him for the drinking and driving.

 

[pinktink83]

I think this is past "we just want to be good neighbors"...letting behavior like this slide is not only endangering your family, but those around you in the community. A police officer should know that. If you have the proof, then no one will say he is taking advantage if his job, or at least no one who matters. This guys sounds dangerous, and complaining to each other doesn't solve anything. Your neighborhood needs to come together and make some formal complaints against this guy before someone gets hurt. It is your civil responsibility, even more so since your husband is an officer. Don't wait "until next time" or "if he keeps doings it". He has ALREADY done it and needs to be held accountable for his actions. Plus, I'm sure you know that having one complaint isnt going to be enough. You're going to need a history on this guy when push comes to shove. Don't wait until its too late.

 

[rluey29]

OMG I feel your pain. When we moved here 1.5 years ago, my husband had just started a teaching job and we moved in around quite a few other teachers. We didn't personally know any of them yet but thought the neighborhood would be great because of that fact. WRONG! We happen to live next door to a high school teacher who is a single mom with two of the worst acting kids I've ever seen.

Her boys are 14 and 18. They have shot fireworks at our house, thrown stuff into our yard, called my mother a B***H just because she stepped into my back yard to play with my son and told her she better go back inside, walked up and down the street in front of our home cussing at the top of their lungs, throwing their cigarette butts into our yard...they also pick out smaller kids from the neighborhood and harrass them and chase them as they're walking down the street. Their mom is acred of them because they've pulled knives on her so she buys them groceries and leaves the house on the weekends so that them and their friends can have a hang out spot. I've seen about 10 boys AND girls stay the night over there and the next morning they would all be in the backyard yelling, huffing gas from gas cans, and once I saw them torturing a chicken!

We were at home recently and I heard a bunch of racket and they had jumped our fence and dragged our son's trampoline over to the fence and were jumping back and forth from our trampoline to theirs. My DH went out and screamed at them to get out of our yard. They cussed and threatened him so I finally called the cops. The cop came and told me in a frank way that I should find a way to be nice to them because the last neighbor that called the cops, who lived at our house prior to us moving in, woke up the next morning to find their house spray painted! These kids are in and out of jail and juvenile and I still don't know what to do about them!

 

[melancholywings]

If you don't already, I'd get a medium sized dog. Ours has done a fantastic job at waking me when we've had prowlers, and chasing strangers away.
This person does not sound well, and like any bully they are most likely only going to get worse. I'd also install cameras to catch the behavior on tape, then take it to LEO. If they are renting I'd drag the home owners into it.

 

[scottsod]

we have a bad neighbor we live in a an apt bldg and our downstairs guy
a single guy in his late 50s who lived here as a kid and moved away and then moved back a year or 2 ago
he would call us and complain about noise when we were all asleep
so i got a new bed and frame and it seemed to go away
then as we had more kids he complains about noise all the time
called cursing on the phone would always say it was me not the kids
as my kids are handicaped and he dosnt wana look like a jerk that he is

he would call at 7 pm or so and i was like listen were just living here not making excess noise so he comes to the door several times one time brings our building secuity sayin im banging on the floor well there was a guy 1 floor up renovating and i heard the banging we all go up there ring his bell and hes got a hammer and tool belt im like there u go leave me alone

so next he calls the town and complains im running a biz in the apt and wants to get me evicted

we take him to court i had called cops every time he called me i change my phone # he bangs on the ceiling etc etc
court wouldnt hear it 1st we went for mediation he agreed not to bother us
lasted a month or 2 he started again i tried to leave him alone

one day he called dyfs childrens welfare on us said kids were yelled at and hit they investiagted and left we took him back to court they sent us to mediation again he stayed away for a few again

then he passses me at the door and yells and spits on me so i called cops
and filed assault charges on him finaly the court hears it i had to get a lawyer as right before court he filed on me bogus charges of harasment so the prosocuter cant get involded and we both get our own lawyers

then we go to court my lawyer gets his to have him agree to a no contact order finaly wich we both have to have on us so he cant bother us under penalty of jail but i have the same on me so if he lies and files on me i can get arrested but all the evidince an paper work is on my side and the same judge would see it for what it is but i could get screwed by a new judge who decided to blelieve him owell

come this month he moved to the 5th and top floor so hes got no one over him and hopefully he goes away or drops dead

good luck

 

[Tricia819]

Wow......I'm never moving. And I live in the (supposidly) 3rd most violent city in the country, but I LOVE my neighbors. Across the street are 2 families that grew up on the same street as me, to the west is a great old couple that just ADORE my children (it's like having another set of grandparents living next door), and to the east is a single guy who is hardly ever home.

 

[asoko]

I think you should document everything and use all the connections you have. You and your family could be in danger. As a teenager, my sister was stalked (I mean felony stalked.) My parents got caller ID to keep track of the phone calls (this was in the early 90's), there were a number of different numbers, tried to get the location of the phones from the phone companies, but they were payphones so you needed a warrant. One of my parents best friends knew a judge and explained the situation to him, they got the warrant. When the stalker called, my mom paged my dad with the phone booth number, he and my brother drove to the payphone and tried to catch the guy. Finally they saw someone at the payphone. As fate had it, there was a police officer right nearby, my dad approached the police officer and told him the situation. The police officer approached the guy, asked him what he was doing and got his name etc. This guy was a serial stalker. He was even featured on a nightime news program - Dateline or something. My sister was not the first girl he stalked, he was fired from coaching jobs after stalking the players, even made some of his phone calls when he was in jail. He was really sick. When they were charging him for my sister's case, my mom had to fight to get it to be a felony (she wanted him to get the mental help he needed, not be put back on the streets to hurt someone). The courts didn't know what his record was. He had been convicted before of misdemeanor. My sister did have to do certain things to have it seen as felony stalking, one of which was that see had to tell him to stop contacting her. I can't remember the others. By the way, my sister had never met him. He got her name and picture out of the local newspaper. I know how scared she was. I can't even imagine the fear if he were close.

 

[livie1205]

Thanks everyone for your support!I will take your advice and start taking photos and see if my dh can do something at work...

 

[Karlzmom]

wHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT BAD NEIGHBORS? There is this weird family that moved in across from us about a year ago...well the dad stays home and the mom works (not the weird part)but all he does all day is drink beer and drive back and forth to and from the store....he has been harassing us for a while tailgaiting me,putting poop in our mailbox (he did the same to our neighbor and they saw them do it) ect...he called my dh work to complain (dh is LEO) that our son goes to a good school out of our area (we applied for movement at school board and got approved) and his son was denied and has to go to a not so good school and that my husband did not help him dig a ditch yeh dig a ditch...lol after working all night...said he is the youngest man in neighborhood and didnt help! LIKE HE HAS TO HELP HIM lol they told him not a work issue...but he has been waiting till I leave the drivway and getting right on my butt and following! I think he is a little wacko! What would you do?I did make a report about the poop thing already...

We moved. Seriously! I know its not really an option for many people, but we bit the bullet and left. As a member of the law enforcement community [I'm a county prosecutor], I couldn't be calling the police everytime they threw stuff at the house, challlenged DH to fight, vanalized our property, did etc. Instead, we looked at each other and decided that the hassle and expense of moving was worth the peace on a daily basis. We have never regretted it. Of course, you could always move into another problem, or find that your neighborhood changes [which is what happened to us when the neighbor-from-h*ll moved in across the street & then his brother moved in next door] Good luck to you, its not an easy situation.....just remember to never argue with an idiot - a bystander won't be able to tell the difference