Question
Asked by MissMagpie
Concerned About My Mentally Ill Neighbor And I Have A 2 Year Old... What Should I Do?
I believe my next door neighbor is schizophrenic or has some kind of mental illness. He has outbursts of rage at all hours of the night and day and says the most bizarre things to people. He walks around town spouting off obscenities and nothing can be done about it. When we first moved into out apartment, I felt bad because it was not his fault and would be friendly and say Hello when he walked by. Unfortunately one day I was outside with my 2 year old daughter when he started having an outburst so I picked her up to bring her inside so she wouldn't hear it when he saw me and shouted something very vulgar and scary directly at me and my daughter. Since then, I have been avoiding him whenever i see him to reduce confrontation but now he gets even more angry if he sees me go indoors when he walks by and shouts louder ont he street in front of our house. I know he drinks alcohol, since on his walks he's usually carrying a case of beer from the store, and obviously thats no good if he's on medications. On top of it, our 3am wakeup screams are getting terribly worse. It is summer here and I can't even keep my windows open. He wakes the whole house up several times a week with his yelling and I'm at my wits end! This is my dream apartment, but I am afraid of HIM. I am afraid of what he is capable of doing. I don't want to move, but I feel like this negative environment is not good for my daughter since she is too young to understand what is going on. What can I do? IS there anything i can do?? I can't stay hauled up indoors forever!
Answer
Go to the police, they can certainly do something, it's their job to protect you and your family. Exaggerate the fact that your life is in danger and this neighbor has been violent. a three AM rampage of noise should be prohibited by ANY jurisdiction a person lives in. round here in New York City in apartment buildings nobody can be loud after ten or eleven pm. so I see no reason why the same civility can't be accorded to you and your family.
I don't believe nothing can be done about this, I believe the police don't want to get involved even though it's their job to protect the welfare of the inhabitants of their locality.
What you can do is be very aware of exactly where your neighbor is when he's spouting off. If he is located on your property or within your property line you can claim he's trespassing and have him legally prohibited from going on your property.
ANYTHING you do at this point, even if it is within your right, is obviously going to inflame this db, so be prepared for the long-term living with this guy next to you. people who are "functional alcoholics" can get extremely tanked up all the time and spend years tanked up while still being able to function.
so you must realize that this guy is not going to stop. your agenda becomes: not stopping him today or tomorrow your agenda becomes trying to get this guy to stop permanently.
I'm no fan of police officers who did nothing to protect me when I was attacked a couple of years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised about the lack of effort your own police force is expending on getting this guy to stop.
It's sad, isn't it, that this guy doesn't even seem to be employed, because he's stalking you at all hours of the day and watching your every movement.
You can't wait and see what he will do next, you can't wait to see if he actually assaults someone. so in this instance I would suggest if you have a little bit of money to hire an attorney to see what you can legally do.
Myself, I wouldn't trust any cop who told me there was nothing I could do. That's what the cops told me when my life was threatened 10 years ago. Now I know what I would do: make sure I'm the last one standing.
So, I'll end here by saying that I could be wrong in stating that the police officer is feeding you a line of bull. but before you assume the cop knows what he's talking about, I'd check this out with an attorney.
Regards,
Christina