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Crazy dude threatens and follows me
khain
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So the title is a little vague, story is in the spoiler and questions are below.
I'm probably going to end up moving since I don't really feel safe living above this guy, but for the time being is there anything other than getting a no contact order that would improve my situation or anything I can do to keep myself safe since the guy seems like he's off the deep end?
About a year ago the crazy dude in the apartment below me banged on my door one day about a year ago and accused me of hacking his wireless connection and screwing up his internet after talking to him for 15 to 30 minutes which included him threatening to call the FBI I decided he was crazy and politely shut the door. Fast forward to today where I'm walking out of my apartment and he utters a few threats, something about beating me up if he finds me someplace else and other stuff, I ignore him and jump in my car, turns out he's following me and at a stop sign he taps the back of my car though he causes no damage, after I get out, which probably wasn't the smartest move, a cop happens to pull up and tells us to follow him off the road. I give the cop my story and then the crazy dude goes on about me hacking his internets and admits to following me from the apartment. The cop let me go after a little bit advising me to get a no contact order from the courthouse and saying that he probably won't be able to do anything about the crazy guy though he did mention something about medical help.
just in case it matters, I'm a guy but have never been in a fight in my life so I'm not to confident about standing up to a vet if things somehow got violent.
just in case it matters, I'm a guy but have never been in a fight in my life so I'm not to confident about standing up to a vet if things somehow got violent.
I'm probably going to end up moving since I don't really feel safe living above this guy, but for the time being is there anything other than getting a no contact order that would improve my situation or anything I can do to keep myself safe since the guy seems like he's off the deep end?
khain on
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IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Besides that, keep your doors and windows locked, try not to be in the same area as him (hard when you're living in the same place, I know), and try to keep your self and your car/belongings in safe, well lit areas.
Oh! Definitely let your apartment manager know what's going on. It's entirely possible you're not the only he's doing this too, and the manager may just evict him. Be especially sure to mention that if something doesn't change so that you feel safe, you will be leaving.
This guy is obviously troubled. If he is a vet then he's probably being seen at your local VA hospital. I'm not sure of a way to let his doctor know of his actions without a HIPAA violation but it sounds like he needs some help. I would avoid direct confrontation if at all possible since this guy seems a bit fixated on you. You may want to carry some mace with you just in case and try not to go out alone after dark.
I wonder if law enforcement would be able to run a check on that guy...
In all honesty while I am a big proponent of actually addressing problems by addressing the people.
The guy is a nutjob, he'll just accuse you of god knows what else.
Satans..... hints.....
I attempted to go down and confront him about it, and he hid in his apartment, called up the manager, and told her I was outside and was going to beat him up if he came out (which is hilarious when you consider the guy had 6 inches and 50 pounds on me). After this, he started to get crazier/more demanding about it, and then he started following us around, culminating with him getting caught trying to take pictures of my wife at work.
We talked to the apartment manager (who had known him growing up) about filing a complaint and possibly getting police involved at this point, but we were planning on moving away and out of state in a few weeks anyway. The manager told him that if he didn't leave us alone we'd talk to the police, and she told us if we wanted she'd start working on evicting him if he did anything again. He left us alone for the remainder of our lease.
Based on my experience, I wouldn't really try talking to the guy about it again, it just set our guy off more and escalated the crazy. The apartment manager was incredibly helpful and nice about the whole thing, and I'd strongly recommend talking to yours. We probably would have gone the no contact order route as well if we were going to be in the same area instead of moving across the entire country.
Because that would be retarded?
Definitely flag this to your landlord. Personally, I'd also try explaining the situation to Mr. McCrazy. If he's bonafide nutszo though moving may be a better alternative.
Because the castle doctrine doesn't take effect until they escalate the situation. Aside from the one sentence that brings the secret service down on you, you can say just about anything in this country and it's just talk*. That's a good thing even if it's sometimes inconvenient.
*Well, it was. After NYC and Columbine I'm not so sure that's still the case but it was.
while I'm a big fan of kicking ass, this won't end the situation. Say he does get in an altercation and kicks mr. Crazies ass.... Mr. Crazy will just come back next time with a bat or knife to get an edge.
This guy is already testing the water so to speak by that car bump incident. He is going to escalate things from there without a doubt. Be prepared to defend yourself if necessary, or more importantly have your cell on you charged, call the cops, get away.
and yeah, move.
Steam
XBOX
This guy sounds a little off and I'm not sure I'd feel safe living around him. Even if you do get him evicted, you might as well move because he may just escalate further. The guy does know when you live.
As a side note, I'd def. consider enrolling in some kind of self defense class. Don't get me wrong, it's not going to make you Jet Li or anything like that and I'm def. not telling you to fight this guy! It's just, to me, I like to know how to handle myself if I needed to. That confidence in knowing where your strengths lie is def. worth the time/money investment.
It's also a great workout.
Escalating it physically will never pan out for you for so many reasons.
- If they're truly crazy there's no guarantee they'll excercise the same constraint as you during a fight. IE: Going for the deathblow.
- If you win they'll just get pissed off, nobody likes losing. And if the individual is alive and free chances of a second confrontation (in less your favour) get higher.
- If you win and move away and this guy has enough free time on his hands he might try to find you. That'll be awesome, right?
Next time you see him,
"Look man, I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you earlier, I wasn't sure you could be trusted. I had to change the frequency with which you were broadcasting and mask a couple of ports. This way the FBI can't watch in on us so easily."
Anyway, you want to make sure that all of this is well documented with the police. Creating a paper trail is very important. If he were to attack you and you killed or injured him while defending yourself (even by accident), this paper trail would be essential to your defense in court. So just make sure the police and your landlord know what's going on, at the very least.
E: As for fighting, it kinda comes naturally when it happens. And there are no rules. Crush his balls, bite his flesh off, gouge his eyes, whatever you gotta do. Just remember that in a self defense situation, your priority is to escape and nothing more. You can't teach the guy a lesson or anything like that. That'll get you in a lot of trouble. This is assuming that it comes to this though, which is pretty unlikely.
That said, getting a no contact order may serve to aggravate him even further. Also, if he's already committed himself to trying to hurt you, then he's already either accepted the consequences in his own mind, or he's oblivious to them. In either case, he probably gives less than a shit about the no contact order.
Whatever you do, don't start carrying a knife or a gun, because #1 you don't want to risk those things being used against you, and #2 Pulling one out only serves to escalate the situation.
Just saying. If I was gonna kick someone's ass. Like I wanted to hurt them, then basically I've already reserved myself to an assault/battery/willful injury charge. That's jail time. The no contact order is a small amount of icing on the proverbial cake.
But it does build history so he can't get it passed off as not pre-meditated. At least I would think :?:
But all of that is entirely beside the point that you're not doing anything to this guy and it's good to hear that you're going ahead with the no-contact.
I thought posts like this were supposed to get infracted in H&A.
Its really not appropriate in this subforum.
Anyway, OP, sounds like you're on the right path. As long as moving is a financially possible decision, go for it. Just...if he is genuinely crazy, try to avoid leaving any sort of trail that could help him find your new address.