I’m female and I would have just gone in, but felt a little nervous about the whole thing. Based on your description, and assuming you’re in a decent neighborhood, I wouldn’t have felt overtly threatened. His blocking the driveway is probably more inconsiderate than anything… the “I have to keep my car as close as possible to the house no matter what else is going on” rule… I’ve known people like this…
He moved back in the way to block her car and DID leave his car. He got out to “use his cell phone”. Why would he have a need to do that? Totally suspicious.
(female) I voted for I would have gone in the house, but I also liked your solution.
The driveway blocking thing would annoy me, more than make me nervous. Who does that? Unless there is something specific about your townhouse set-up that would make it more likely that someone would block your driveway, like maybe (I know I am really reaching here) he was getting spotty cell phone service and he was creeping along to find more bars? Although in 2012, is cell phone service really that iffy in normal residential areas? (I swear, I think “oh, I wasn’t getting good service” has become the new white lie for “I didn’t really want to call you.”)
So my answer is that I would have gone in the house, and then watched from the window to see if I should be more annoyed or curious about how long he was going to block my driveway and what he was going to do next.
At 2 am on a weeknight?
He then got out of his car and stood beside it.
I am male and I would have called 911. If I had felt compelled to say something to the guy, it might have included the phrase “I’ve got a reverse gear on this car and I’m not afraid to use it.”
I don’t know about 911, but I think given the circumstances: blocks your ‘escape’ route after allowing you to pull in the driveway, getting out of his car, and it being 2am (this being the biggest factor - who delivers shit to working professionals & small children at the time of the morning?!) - I would have called the non-emergency number.
Though, given that I don’t have that programmed into my phone, 911 might have been warranted. I don’t think of myself as paranoid, but situational awareness is important and that situation would have pinged my warning radar.
I’m male, probably larger than you, and also probably more experienced in hand to hand combat than you. I would have called 911, and stayed in my car until the police arrived, made sure I got the license plate number, and had a description of the person in question ready when they arrived, and taken a picture if possible of the guy with my cell phone.
I can think of no possible explanation for blocking your driveway except to make sure you couldn’t escape. For me, my wife and daughter, or any other woman who will take my advice, this is Full Emergency Mode.
Stay in your car, dial 911 and stay on the line until the police arrive, and make sure the 911 operator treats it as an imminent attack. Roll up your windows. If he approaches your car for any reason, start blowing the horn and don’t stop until help arrives.
At 2:00 in the morning? Bull fucking shit.
I think you need to file a police report. Now.
Regards,
Shodan
I would have not gotten out of the car and called my husband who was presumably in the house and asked him what to do. (35yo, F)
I do think what you did was a good idea.
No, he didn’t give a confirmable neighbor’s name, bolding below is mine.
Having a plausible story and being able to deliver it with confidence is not an indication of safety, just of planning ahead. And people are much worse at recognizing when someone is lying than they think they are.
I think psychobunny’s plan was a good one.
Well, if I know them, they might be interested in knowing that some shady character is identifying them at 2am as their reason for skulking about the neighborhood.
On review, of course, the OP does not know her neighbor well, so this idea is a total no-go.
Looks mean absolutely nothing. Most serial killers you could sit next to on the subway and never notice them.
Trust no one, especially a stranger hanging around in front of your house at 2:00 am. I’d’ve called 911 and locked myself in the car until the police came, only because I don’t own a handgun.
I would have told him to stop blocking my driveway, and if he did not comply I would let him see me call 911. I would make sure that I also had a picture of he and his car on my cell phone so I could upload it if need be.
He can park blocking in the neighbor he is visiting. Blocking someone else is rude.
My friend and I were leaving for dinner one night from her house. She lived in a pretty good area, but there was some shady activity at an apartment complex down at the end of her street.
One night, as we were backing down the driveway heading out to dinner, somebody comes pulling right up and blocks the driveway. She looks and can only see the passenger, who is someone she doesn’t recognize.
I had my Sig pulled out before she had completely stopped. Turns out, it was one of her neighbors from down the street and the passenger was a coworker of his.
I told him the next time, he might want to be a bit more careful about doing something as absurdly stupid as blocking the driveway of a moving vehicle, as he easily could have been hurt pretty badly… Just my 2 cents…
Since his behavior reminds me creepily of Buffalo Bill’s when he grabbed that girl in the apartment parking lot in Silence of the Lambs, I voted to drive elsewhere until he was gone. And maybe take note of his license plate and let the cops know about him and this incident.
I know self-defense, but I would have stayed in the car and dialed 911. Why? Cause I do not know if there are other people in the car! You only saw one guy, but it could have been a gang.
And never, ever judge anyone by their appearance. Ted Bundy was a nice looking guy who use to wear a cast and/or crutches and ask a woman to help him put something in his car trunk. When she was leaning over the trunk, he would hit her and put her in the trunk.
It is 2 AM, and someone needs a hard drive replaced? There is no such thing as All Night Geek Squad! Move their car from my driveway and block me in? Oh heck no! All sorts of alarms would be going off then. If I were packing then it would be clearing leather right about then, but still conceiled. If a non-packing person my cell would be out and I’d be on the phone to 911. To flee the situation I would be prepared drive across lawns if that were an option should this stranger try and approach the car. Whoever said “Spidey Senses” was right. Trust your gut.
I’m rather astonished that there were people in this thread that thought calling 911 would have been an overreaction. To them I ask: When is it appropriate to call 911? To me, this would have been an entirely appropriate reason to call 911.
I would have done into my house, but I don’t see anything wrong with what you did.
A creepy person that you don’t feel threatened by is not an emergency. The police have non-emergency numbers for a reason.
I would have pulled back out of the driveway, gone to a safer place, and called the non-emergency number. Something in that situation was just not right. And I would have asked the police what to do in the meantime.
But the OP’s solution was indeed clever.
p.s. I just programmed the non-emergency number into my phone. Thanks to whoever mentioned that above. Good idea.
The OP couldn’t do that. The dipshit had moved his car again, so that he was blocking her car in the driveway.