See subject. Actually happening now–I called 911 ten minutes ago because I thought he might be outside parked in front, and I heard normal sane vo8ces trying to talk to/with him, and thought bad things could happen.
In the mean time local news (Mrs. Bloom) reports he’s in the next building in our complex.
Just interested.
Cx hed “out window.” Not related to me or a houseguest.
I’d say call the police as you did and let them figure it out.
Potentially. If he’s yelling something understandable & threatening, then yes. “F@#$% B%^&*, you cheated on me/stole from me, I’m gonna kill you!”
However, if he’s yelling about the impending alien invasion & is not otherwise a threat to himself or others possibly not.
Ask for a wellness check, it sounds like he’s having a psychotic break of some kind!
This is the right answer.
It doesn’t seem to me that any of the responses so far have answered the OP except Spiderman’s. The question isn’t what the OP should do, it’s when the police arrive, do they have the authority to enter the guy’s house?
IANAL but my understanding is police generally cannot enter a home without a warrant or permission from the occupant, but they may enter, but not search, a home if there is an “emergency”. What constitutes an emergency may vary by jurisdiction. This page discusses the law in Illinois. They can enter if they believe someone inside is in danger. They can also enter if they believe evidence in a crime is about to be destroyed, or if they are in “hot pursuit”. In the OP’s case probably the only way they can enter without permission or warrant is if they believe the person is about to harm himself or someone else.
I’m pretty sure they can enter if there is a crime in progress, and that includes Disturbing the Peacein most jurisdictions.
Since this is a legal question, let’s move it to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
No, it’s rather obviously not an answer at all.
In my youth I got a noise complaint visit or two from the police. I am not confident that I could have just ignored their knocking at the door indefinitely.
IANAL, so I truly don’t know – it does seem likely that the guy is guilty of disturbing the peace. But, the link you shared notes that disturbing the peace is a misdemeanor – do police departments generally have the right to force entry into a home if the only crime they have evidence of occurring is a misdemeanor?
What other solution could there be? If I was blasting my stereo full tilt, I could just do that forever if I don’t answer the door?
Eta: I guess that’s an honest question but I have a feeling that there’s a real world and legal divergence here. Like refusing to let a cop search your trunk. Yes, you can but he’s just going to call the k-9 unit and have them alert on your car.
They do knock rather annoyingly, it’s like they want it to be hard to ignore.
In my experience if they’re knocking they’re probably not coming in(unless you give them a reason to), and if they’re coming in they’re probably not knocking.
Everyone has the right to “quiet enjoyment” in their dwelling, but the hours vary from place to place. And disturbing the peace is illegal enough to get the cops into the building to determine what is going on with the guy.
We had this very thing happen about 15 years ago. We had a neighbor who would start yelling out his window in the early morning hours–it sounded like angry cursing in Ukranian. I believe he was mentally ill. We called police and they said that they would go ask him to stop, and if he didn’t, then they could arrest him for disturbing the peace. Apparently, there is/was a provision in public nuisance laws where his noise had to be “willful and malicious” in order for them to arrest him. So after repeated requests to get him to stop, they did arrest him. I don’t know if they made forced entry or if opened the door, but they did arrest him. This was a while ago, so those laws may have changed and I am sure they vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This was southern California, circa 2005.
Yes. Why wouldn’t we? A misdemeanor is still a criminal offense, in my state punishable by fines up to 10k and 9 months imprisonment.
To put it in perspective, most domestic violence calls are misdemeanor offenses. Most batteries are misdemeanor level. If someone were beating you up in your home would you want the cops to bust in and put a stop to it?
Reminds me of a former neighbor I had. Dude lived across the stairwell from me. He wasn’t usually screaming, but he’d play music very loudly, and I’d constantly hear him taking very animatedly to himself in the hallway. The cops were called on him once for the loud music, and I could hear almost everything from my own apartment. Dude admitted to being in prescription drugs, but didn’t remember why or what they were. Cop also pointed out a ton of beer cans lying around, and the guy said none of those were from that day. One time he was talking about how someone threatened him with a gun outside the apartment, and had his key. He posted signs on his door with weird symbols telling people to stay out (and posted a sign on the front door of the building itself, as well).
Weirdly enough, dude was fine when it came to me. He talked to a cop when another neighbor scratched my car with hers and he saw the whole thing. He wasn’t a bad guy, but he had obvious mental issues and didn’t appear to me taking anything for them. He got evicted after receiving so many complaints. His apartment was gutted - even the sink was thrown out. I heard that happens when someone uses it to make meth, but I know fuck all about making meth.
Happens when the sink is stained or bent – or when there is water damage and the bench-top is replaced. I don’t know about making meth, but I do know about living with psychotic people.