• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Proper response to verbal assault//threats

Ouroboros

DP Veteran
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Messages
19,169
Reaction score
2,387
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Centrist
Twice, while walking on the street outside my residence (which I've been doing for twenty years), some foul mouthed woman I never saw before started yelling at me. The first time, because it was early Sunday and no one else was around, she followed and harangued me for roughly 20 minutes as I simply kept walking, apparently for not listening to whatever she was raving about. I did everything I could not to interact her the first time, but the second time, she again addressed me without any provocation on my part, though she only said two things because there were more cars around (no listening witnesses though).

I am informed that verbal assault is not illegal but that threats are, though without a witness, I doubt the cops will do (or will want to do) anything. I'm certainly not going to stop my walks because of this twit. I thought about taking my iphone on the walk and, if she does it a third time, threaten to take her picture and use it to bring charges against her (also a long shot, I imagine). She probably doesn't have a brain in her head and is incapable of understanding consequences, but I might be better protected if I had some documentation.
 
I suggest that you have a friend or relative accompany you and take a video (I hear all you young people -- I am 85 -- have smartphones).

When the mentally ill female starts screaming, your friend or relative can take a video (with sound) of the wacko.

Then you can contact the police or a lawyer as to what your practical rights are.
 
- Would need more information on what the woman was saying to you.
- change your route or time of walking.
- report it to law enforcement.
- check your State laws on recording people. If legal record the conversation.
 

Ouroboros - just a question​


Are you black by any chance, and were you walking through a white community? If that is NOT the case, maybe she is just a fruitcake. Fruitcakes are best ignored.
 
Put on some noise cancelling headphones and enjoy your walk.
 
Keep walking and use some sort of recording device (audio or video, video is preferred if possible). If they block your path, warn them to move. . If they refuse to move or maybe a physical gesture then pepper spray them.
 
Twice, while walking on the street outside my residence (which I've been doing for twenty years), some foul mouthed woman I never saw before started yelling at me. The first time, because it was early Sunday and no one else was around, she followed and harangued me for roughly 20 minutes as I simply kept walking, apparently for not listening to whatever she was raving about. I did everything I could not to interact her the first time, but the second time, she again addressed me without any provocation on my part, though she only said two things because there were more cars around (no listening witnesses though).

I am informed that verbal assault is not illegal but that threats are, though without a witness, I doubt the cops will do (or will want to do) anything. I'm certainly not going to stop my walks because of this twit. I thought about taking my iphone on the walk and, if she does it a third time, threaten to take her picture and use it to bring charges against her (also a long shot, I imagine). She probably doesn't have a brain in her head and is incapable of understanding consequences, but I might be better protected if I had some documentation.

Harassment is illegal. Report it. Get the cops to warn them. Then get a restraining order. Then they can be arrested.

Ive seen cops show up to reports of people not getting their fast food. Theyll respond to this too. They have to. Then you have evidence for a restraining order.

Also move. Crazy people loose in the streets is not a sign of a good place to live.
 
Keep walking and use some sort of recording device (audio or video, video is preferred if possible). If they block your path, warn them to move. . If they refuse to move or maybe a physical gesture then pepper spray them.
I'm not sure that's good advice. If you pepper spray someone who is merely blocking your path, that's a likely an assault charge.
 
I'm not sure that's good advice. If you pepper spray someone who is merely blocking your path, that's a likely an assault charge.
Was their blocking of your path planned, intentional, and part of threatening gestures?
 
Was their blocking of your path planned, intentional, and part of threatening gestures?
Maybe. But I would rather avoid being arrested and prosecuted and having to convince a jury of it, so I'd just step around.

And if I were on a jury, I'd have a hard time voting someone innocent who pepper sprayed a guy for standing in his way, whether planned and intentional or not.
 
Twice, while walking on the street outside my residence (which I've been doing for twenty years), some foul mouthed woman I never saw before started yelling at me. The first time, because it was early Sunday and no one else was around, she followed and harangued me for roughly 20 minutes as I simply kept walking, apparently for not listening to whatever she was raving about. I did everything I could not to interact her the first time, but the second time, she again addressed me without any provocation on my part, though she only said two things because there were more cars around (no listening witnesses though).

I am informed that verbal assault is not illegal but that threats are, though without a witness, I doubt the cops will do (or will want to do) anything. I'm certainly not going to stop my walks because of this twit. I thought about taking my iphone on the walk and, if she does it a third time, threaten to take her picture and use it to bring charges against her (also a long shot, I imagine). She probably doesn't have a brain in her head and is incapable of understanding consequences, but I might be better protected if I had some documentation.


I would have immediately called the police via 911 and let them know that you have real concern about your safety and the safety of the person that was attacking you.

At least if there were any physical confrontation, you would be on record.

When I was a upstart hungry contractor, I took jobs all over the place against my better judgement and had quite a few run ins with whack jobs over in the zoo. (Newport News-Hampton-Norfolk-Portsmouth)

I carried my Ruger, but I'm not one to pull a gun out unless it's a actual recognizable and immediate life threatening situation. Let the cops deal with it.
 
I would have immediately called the police via 911 and let them know that you have real concern about your safety and the safety of the person that was attacking you.

At least if there were any physical confrontation, you would be on record.

When I was a upstart hungry contractor, I took jobs all over the place against my better judgement and had quite a few run ins with whack jobs over in the zoo. (Newport News-Hampton-Norfolk-Portsmouth)

I carried my Ruger, but I'm not one to pull a gun out unless it's a actual recognizable and immediate life threatening situation. Let the cops deal with it.
I didn't have a phone with me on either encounter, but I will for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for the input, all. If weather permits I might try to go a little earlier on my walk, but that's the most I'm willing to do to let the idiot be someone else's problem.
 
Maybe. But I would rather avoid being arrested and prosecuted and having to convince a jury of it, so I'd just step around.

And if I were on a jury, I'd have a hard time voting someone innocent who pepper sprayed a guy for standing in his way, whether planned and intentional or not.
They may not let you step around them. That is the problem. I'm not talking about spraying everyone in your way. It's about the people who intentionally put themselves in your way and won't you you try to walk away because they want to start a problem or harass you.
 
They may not let you step around them. That is the problem. I'm not talking about spraying everyone in your way. It's about the people who intentionally put themselves in your way and won't you you try to walk away because they want to start a problem or harass you.
Yeah, you've got a point. I'm generally not gonna touch someone unless they touch me first, though. Generally.

It's not worth the legal hassle.
 
Yeah, you've got a point. I'm generally not gonna touch someone unless they touch me first, though. Generally.

It's not worth the legal hassle.
I try to walk away without turning my back. When they don't allow me to walk away is when the problem begins.
 
I try to walk away without turning my back. When they don't allow me to walk away is when the problem begins.
Yeah. Agreed.
 
Twice, while walking on the street outside my residence (which I've been doing for twenty years), some foul mouthed woman I never saw before started yelling at me. The first time, because it was early Sunday and no one else was around, she followed and harangued me for roughly 20 minutes as I simply kept walking, apparently for not listening to whatever she was raving about. I did everything I could not to interact her the first time, but the second time, she again addressed me without any provocation on my part, though she only said two things because there were more cars around (no listening witnesses though).

I am informed that verbal assault is not illegal but that threats are, though without a witness, I doubt the cops will do (or will want to do) anything. I'm certainly not going to stop my walks because of this twit. I thought about taking my iphone on the walk and, if she does it a third time, threaten to take her picture and use it to bring charges against her (also a long shot, I imagine). She probably doesn't have a brain in her head and is incapable of understanding consequences, but I might be better protected if I had some documentation.
You should take your phone with you. I've frightened away belligerent homeless people just by holding eye contact and raising my phone to my ear.
 
Twice, while walking on the street outside my residence (which I've been doing for twenty years), some foul mouthed woman I never saw before started yelling at me. The first time, because it was early Sunday and no one else was around, she followed and harangued me for roughly 20 minutes as I simply kept walking, apparently for not listening to whatever she was raving about. I did everything I could not to interact her the first time, but the second time, she again addressed me without any provocation on my part, though she only said two things because there were more cars around (no listening witnesses though).

I am informed that verbal assault is not illegal but that threats are, though without a witness, I doubt the cops will do (or will want to do) anything. I'm certainly not going to stop my walks because of this twit. I thought about taking my iphone on the walk and, if she does it a third time, threaten to take her picture and use it to bring charges against her (also a long shot, I imagine). She probably doesn't have a brain in her head and is incapable of understanding consequences, but I might be better protected if I had some documentation.

Former cop - I would suggest that you are more subtle in your approach. Download a voice recorder app and turn it on before you go for your walks. If nothing crazy happens that time, just delete the file. If something happens, you have it to provide to responding police officer.

The other reason you do not want to photograph her is you have no way to gauge her reaction and you do not want the encounter to put you in jeopardy of being the aggressor.

I would also recommend that you do not take a direct route to your home or place of employment. There is no reason to provide her an easy path to harass you elsewhere.

Stay safe - call 911 if you are in immediate danger - Keep a paper trail.
 
Former cop - I would suggest that you are more subtle in your approach. Download a voice recorder app and turn it on before you go for your walks. If nothing crazy happens that time, just delete the file. If something happens, you have it to provide to responding police officer.

The other reason you do not want to photograph her is you have no way to gauge her reaction and you do not want the encounter to put you in jeopardy of being the aggressor.

I would also recommend that you do not take a direct route to your home or place of employment. There is no reason to provide her an easy path to harass you elsewhere.

Stay safe - call 911 if you are in immediate danger - Keep a paper trail.

I recognize the importance of preventive actions and have said so before here.

But though I also thought that the act of taking a picture might provoke an unreasoning assailant, the idea of keeping an audio log also would provoke such an assailant if you tell him/her about it. Yet if you don’t do anything, that too can be viewed as a sign of weakness.

There’s a school of thought that says you ought never to react to a harasser in any way. The truth imo is that one never knows what action, or lack of action, may provoke a given harasser.

The act of threatening to ring 911 mentioned by another poster is probably the best response, at least if you’re in an area that has regular patrol activity. At least my state isn’t as bad about felon release as some, though I’ve no illusions about how important verbal harassment is in the scheme of contemporary events.
 

Ouroboros - just a question​


Are you black by any chance, and were you walking through a white community? If that is NOT the case, maybe she is just a fruitcake. Fruitcakes are best ignored.
OMG! Will this reverse racism in America never stop? What if you turned that around and asked, "Were you white in a black community?"

There is not a white persona alive that would dare walk the streets alone in a predominantly black area and yet I see black people strolling the sidewalks, parks, and many other areas where it is predominantly white without any trouble whatsoever. You need to stop with your nonsensical racist comments. Comments such as yours are causing division and racial strife and ruining the fabric of America. Why do you hate white people so much? What happened when you were little?
 
Twice, while walking on the street outside my residence (which I've been doing for twenty years), some foul mouthed woman I never saw before started yelling at me. The first time, because it was early Sunday and no one else was around, she followed and harangued me for roughly 20 minutes as I simply kept walking, apparently for not listening to whatever she was raving about. I did everything I could not to interact her the first time, but the second time, she again addressed me without any provocation on my part, though she only said two things because there were more cars around (no listening witnesses though).

I am informed that verbal assault is not illegal but that threats are, though without a witness, I doubt the cops will do (or will want to do) anything. I'm certainly not going to stop my walks because of this twit. I thought about taking my iphone on the walk and, if she does it a third time, threaten to take her picture and use it to bring charges against her (also a long shot, I imagine). She probably doesn't have a brain in her head and is incapable of understanding consequences, but I might be better protected if I had some documentation.
It can be illegal if it is a repeated behaviour (harrassment). In any case, if she comes up again, I'd just whip out a phone, start recording her, and say "Welcome to YouTube."
 
OMG! Will this reverse racism in America never stop? What if you turned that around and asked, "Were you white in a black community?"

There is not a white persona alive that would dare walk the streets alone in a predominantly black area and yet I see black people strolling the sidewalks, parks, and many other areas where it is predominantly white without any trouble whatsoever. You need to stop with your nonsensical racist comments. Comments such as yours are causing division and racial strife and ruining the fabric of America. Why do you hate white people so much? What happened when you were little?
I’m white. I worked in an all black school for 5 years and would go from my college campus to the predominantly all black community where the school is on foot or roller blades for all 5 of those years.

Not a single incident - or even close to an incident.

This post is completely racist and ignorant.
 
Back
Top Bottom