I live in the Los Angeles area in a nice, quiet neighborhood. I never worried too much about my personnal safety when I was at home, I know all my neighbors and I have big dogs that let me know if anyone is outside the house. But all that changed last night...I was assaulted by one of my neighbors in my own home. I never thought I would have to run screaming out of my house to another neighbor in fear for my life...but it happened and I don't know what is going to happen next.
A little background: I live alone but I am well known in my neighborhood...I am on the Board of Directors for my home owners association, which means it's not unusual for people in the neighborhood to knock on my door with questions, issues, etc. The neighboor who assaulted me lives right next door. He has an issue with my dogs...he feels they make too much noise. Every time he made a complaint to me, I would respond with an apology and would make the necessary changes that he requested in an effort to comply with local laws and to be a good neighbor. It's gotten to the point that I no longer let them out of the house into my backyard except for a few minutes to relieve themselves and if one of them barks while out there, they come back in immediately.
Then he started complaining about the stray cats I feed (this neighborhood has been hit hard with bankrupcy and people have no problem leaving their pets behind when they leave. I feed the tame kitties and bring them into my kitchen at night to keep them safe). So, I brought the tame ones into my house because I was afraid he'd hurt them or dump that at the high kill city shelter. Then he started threatening me about the number of animals I had...he was going to turn me in, etc. At that point, I felt I had to stop communicating since he was getting increasingly threatening and when trying to comply all it did was seem to make the demands continue.
Last Thursday when I got home late from work he was standing in his driveway...I think he was waiting for me. He apologized for being such a difficult person to deal with, he was having isssues, sometimes he didn't have control of what he was doing. I thanked him and told him I was sorry we had argued. He told me that it was okay to let the animals out...that he didn't mean to make life to difficult for me. I didn't really engage, I thanked him and went into my house but the next day I did reopen the doggie door so that the dogs could go in and out freely while I was at work. I left the cats in, I really didn't trust him too much at this point...he was just being creepy and inconsistent.
Last night I had turned in early, I wasn't feeling too well. Around 9:30 the doorbell rang...it was my neighbor. I put my dogs in the kitchen and shut the door and opened the front door to see what he wanted. He was visibly drunk and began to tell me that he just wanted to thank me again for being so good about the dogs, I thanked him and told him that I wasn't feeling well so could we please talk about this some other time.
As I was shutting the door, he lunged forward and punched me in the face. I fell backward and he flung the door open and began to hit me in the body. I started screaming and what seemed like a slow motion wrestling match ensued. All I could think of was to get away...I could hear the dogs going crazy in the kitchen and all I could think of was to get to the kitchen door and let them into the living room to help me. I finally got away after he pummeled me and threw me around the house a little...thank god he was so drunk...had he not been, I might not have been able to get away.
I ran to the kitchen and opened the door, but at the last second decided to jump into the kitchen and keep the dogs with me and barricade myself in. The dogs were terrified...obviously the lead dog (me) was in big trouble and they didn't know what was going on. I yelled thru the door to my neighbor to get the hell out of my house RIGHT NOW. No answer...the dogs were going nuts and I couldn't hear if he was still in the house or not. I kept yelling at him to get out. Finally I thought to pick up a carving knife and tell him that I was now armed and that he'd better leave the house immediately. Still no sound from the other side of the door. I finally opened the door a crack to see if he'd left and he was RIGHT THERE. I brandished the knife and told him to GET OUT and he said, "hey, I'm sorry"...I slammed the door and kept yelling at him to leave. Finally, I went out the side door in the kitchen and opened my back gate and ran up to the front door and slammed it shut. I then I ran screaming across the street to my other neighbor...his light was still on so I knew he was still up. As I was running across the street I could hear the violent neighbor closing his garage door, so I knew he'd left my house.
My second neighbor was sitting in his living room with his front door wide open talking with a third neighbor and they were having a couple of beers and watching TV. I ran in screaming that they needed to call the cops...they were stunned when I told them what happened. They told me that they thought they heard screaming but that they thought it was someone's TV.
They called the LAPD...when the cops arrived I told them my story. They asked me if anyone witnessed what happened...but there were no witnesses. They took pictures of my fat lip and egg sized lump on my head and took my statement. Then they told me that they couldn't arrest my neighbor unless I wanted them to make a private arrest for me. That this was misdemenor assault, not felony assault, and that I had to do all the work on prosecuting this guy. I'm not sure what all that means, but I wanted him behind bars for the night so I agreed to do a private arrest. They told me that if he didn't answer his door, they wouldn't be able to arrest him...so I was left with the possibility that he was going to be next door all night. Thankfully he answered his door...and denied hitting me and then told them that it was a mutual altercation. They saw how drunk he was and arrested him.
And now FINALLY, here is the point of my diary: is there someone out there who can help me figure out what to do to protect myself? I'm living right next door to a guy who wants to hurt me...I can't prove this, but in all the years I lived next door to him he's constantly asking me to come over, telling me that I'm "hot", and just being overbearing. I think that's why he started to harrass me about my dogs and then the stray cats. It was his way of controlling me. Now, I live in fear of being assaulted again or worse. This is escalating and I'm petrified and don't know how to protect myself. The cops told me to get a restraining order...so I'm doing that early tomorrow. I need to get in to see a doctor (I think I made a mistake not allowing the cops to call an ambulance last night) as I still have a huge lump on my head and a bad headache. But most importantly, I think I need a lawyer to help me navigate the system. I was thinking about it this morning...why didn't they charge him with trespassing, home invasion, or something like that? How is it just a misdemenor to punch your smaller, weaker neighbor? I'm scared and I'm in unknown territory....is there anyhone out there who can tell me what my next steps are?
UPDATE: Hi everyone...so sorry I disappeared for a time...the head of the board of directors came over to make sure I'm okay and tell me that she thinks she can get me legal assistance thru the insurance the association has taken out for the board members. I'm catching up as fast as I can...but number one about the gun: I could barely get this drunk to let me go, it was positively the scariest thing that ever happened to me EVER. I could not get away...it I'd had a gun, he would have gotten it away from me, no doubt about it. But from here on out, I'm carrying pepper spray and holding it out, ready to use whenever I see him.
UPDATE2: Thank everyone for all your good advice. I'm still reading and trying to respond but there are so many comments I'm falling a little behind. I have a couple of friends already on the case...one a paralegal who is digging up this guy's priors and finding out who owns the property he's living on. Another friend is going to be at his hearing tomorrow and will call me to let me know what the judge decides. Finally, I'll be spending all day tomorrow getting a restraining order, seeing my doctor, and finding a lawyer/talking to advocacy groups. Going to be a busy day and I promise to write a follow up diary tomorrow to give updates. I can't thank you all enough...I don't post here a lot but I read the blog everyday and I just knew I'd get a ton of good advice. More later...