Posted: 12/2/2013 9:37:31 AM EDT
| So last Monday night about 9:45 pm, my wife was sleeping on the couch and I was surfing the net. I heard a bumping on the side of the house, so I walked into the living room to investigate and when I looked out the window, I saw a guy with his hood up on his coat stumbling around my front yard. He came up the walk to the stoop and started turning the knob on my front door. Keep in mind, all the lights in the house were off except the TV in the LR. I told the man through the door that he was at the wrong house and that he needed to leave. He kept mumbling something and then left and headed back towards the west side of my house. I walked to the back of the house stopping to observe him from a couple of windows and he proceeded to go to my back yard. Looking out the back door, I saw him attempting to pee on my garage. I opened the back door and I asked him what the hell he was doing and that he needed to leave. I closed the door and locked it again. Shortly after that, he was at my backdoor trying to gain access to it. I grabbed my shotgun and called 911. I kept telling him through the door that he needed to leave as this was not his house. He kept mumbling something like "why was I doing this to him." The police eventually arrived and took him into custody for public intox (his sixth offense). It turned out to be my neighbor who I have had trouble with in the past. I have caught his roommate stealing apples from my yard at night (the stealing of apples is not as bad as the fact he is wandering around in my yard after dark). My wife was genuinely unnerved during this situation and yet when she relayed the story to a co-worker the next day, she was told she was overreacting. I'm sorry, but even unarmed drunk people can be dangerous....as the Waterloo police found out during the Eric Rule incident. So did we overreact? |
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What you did, in my opinion, was not overreacting. With all the recent shootings here in Waterloo the guy is lucky it was your yard and not someone who shoots first then calls. You live in Waterloo? Sorry to hear about that (jk). My wife was just telling me last week about the robbery of the Cum and Go on San Marnan/Kimball because it isn't far from where she works and I was like "Again?". Waterloo seemed to be getting better there for awhile and now it is getting bad again. |
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not an over reaction at all. the fact you are even considering it like that is a problem. i too don't want to call in LE for something petty and small like this, but the fact is you don't know how it'll go. if he was drunk and messing around and left? maybe no big deal. but after you told him to take a hike and he didn't leave? guilty of trespass...
i'd have done the same more than likely. |
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not an over reaction at all. the fact you are even considering it like that is a problem. i too don't want to call in LE for something petty and small like this, but the fact is you don't know how it'll go. if he was drunk and messing around and left? maybe no big deal. but after you told him to take a hike and he didn't leave? guilty of trespass... i'd have done the same more than likely. Oh, I don't think I would do anything different. It's just the first time I have ever had to pull out the gun for self defense and it's nice to have it re-affirmed that I didn't overreact. Unfortunately, he wasn't charged with trespassing according to my brother in law (deputy sheriff). Apparently being drunk mitigates a misdemeanor like trespassing. Whereas it's not an excuse for plowing someone down on the road. |
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Oh, I don't think I would do anything different. It's just the first time I have ever had to pull out the gun for self defense and it's nice to have it re-affirmed that I didn't overreact. Unfortunately, he wasn't charged with trespassing according to my brother in law (deputy sheriff). Apparently being drunk mitigates a misdemeanor like trespassing. Whereas it's not an excuse for plowing someone down on the road. Quoted:
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not an over reaction at all. the fact you are even considering it like that is a problem. i too don't want to call in LE for something petty and small like this, but the fact is you don't know how it'll go. if he was drunk and messing around and left? maybe no big deal. but after you told him to take a hike and he didn't leave? guilty of trespass... i'd have done the same more than likely. Oh, I don't think I would do anything different. It's just the first time I have ever had to pull out the gun for self defense and it's nice to have it re-affirmed that I didn't overreact. Unfortunately, he wasn't charged with trespassing according to my brother in law (deputy sheriff). Apparently being drunk mitigates a misdemeanor like trespassing. Whereas it's not an excuse for plowing someone down on the road. to be perfectly honest, that is a tough pill to swallow. there probably isn't anything to get in a real twist about, but if your property had been damaged, or the situation would have been worse or had escalated, you'd be on the hook for something i'm sure. i have a problem with that. fundamentally that isn't correct no matter how slight the issue... sorry about the hassle, but in the same situation i'm pretty sure i'd have dialed the authorities to handle it. besides, they rarely approve of how i prefer to handle it... |
| You handled that situation just fine, especially considering all the things that have been going on in town lately. No telling what someone may be up to on the other side of your door. Definitely a good time to get Waterloo's finest involved. Oh, and you wife's co-worker has no idea what overreacting really is. |
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to be perfectly honest, that is a tough pill to swallow. there probably isn't anything to get in a real twist about, but if your property had been damaged, or the situation would have been worse or had escalated, you'd be on the hook for something i'm sure. i have a problem with that. fundamentally that isn't correct no matter how slight the issue... sorry about the hassle, but in the same situation i'm pretty sure i'd have dialed the authorities to handle it. besides, they rarely approve of how i prefer to handle it... Quoted:
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not an over reaction at all. the fact you are even considering it like that is a problem. i too don't want to call in LE for something petty and small like this, but the fact is you don't know how it'll go. if he was drunk and messing around and left? maybe no big deal. but after you told him to take a hike and he didn't leave? guilty of trespass... i'd have done the same more than likely. Oh, I don't think I would do anything different. It's just the first time I have ever had to pull out the gun for self defense and it's nice to have it re-affirmed that I didn't overreact. Unfortunately, he wasn't charged with trespassing according to my brother in law (deputy sheriff). Apparently being drunk mitigates a misdemeanor like trespassing. Whereas it's not an excuse for plowing someone down on the road. to be perfectly honest, that is a tough pill to swallow. there probably isn't anything to get in a real twist about, but if your property had been damaged, or the situation would have been worse or had escalated, you'd be on the hook for something i'm sure. i have a problem with that. fundamentally that isn't correct no matter how slight the issue... sorry about the hassle, but in the same situation i'm pretty sure i'd have dialed the authorities to handle it. besides, they rarely approve of how i prefer to handle it... In my county, our District Attorney is toothless. He plea bargains everything, and those that are sentenced to time and/or restitution get off pretty light. I don't know if jail overcrowding has something to do with it or what but some of these guys seem loath to do their jobs IMO. To me it's almost like rewarding bad behavior, or proving to the bad guys that their actions have no ramifications. |
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if I was in your place I would of done the same thing. The only thing I would of done was grab my ar not my shotgun. Under stressfully events like that you never know how good your aim is going to be. Even though we all think where a good shoot but you never know until something like that happens. Witch I hope in never does for any of you or me.
but I would say you kept a level head and did just unload on the dude. |
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I work across the street from that cum & go at CBE. Did you see what he actually stole? Some smokes and a car. What an idiot. No. I'm not surprised though. I can't believe people would risk jail over something so little, but that is the world we live in. |
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if I was in your place I would of done the same thing. The only thing I would of done was grab my ar not my shotgun. Under stressfully events like that you never know how good your aim is going to be. Even though we all think where a good shoot but you never know until something like that happens. Witch I hope in never does for any of you or me. but I would say you kept a level head and did just unload on the dude. Oh, I am pretty comfortable with a shotgun. Besides, I don't have an AR....yet. I just signed up here to get good info on ARs so I don't make a mistake when I do buy. Anybody going to the gun show in Waterloo this weekend? |