Woman Backed for Getting Sister 'In Trouble' After Calling Cops on Neighbor

A woman who called the police on the "neighborhood watch guy" after he turned up and started banging on her door in the middle of the night is being backed online.

Posting to Reddit's Am I the A******? (AITA) forum on September 15, user u/Apprehensive_Can1008 said she was shocked when a strange man showed up at her house one evening, repeatedly ringing her doorbell and causing her dogs to "go crazy."

The man turned out to be a local teacher, and now the poster has found herself the subject of neighborhood gossip—even at PTA meetings. The incident also led to an angry call from the poster's sister, who is heavily involved in the local community.

Nevertheless, Reddit users agree the woman did the right thing, with the post, titled "AITA for calling the cops on my neighbor and getting my sister in trouble?," receiving over 5,000 upvotes and more than 800 comments.

Stranger Danger

There were 126,430 forcible rape cases in the United States in 2020. When factoring in other types of sexual offenses, the figure is even higher. Although the majority of victims know the perpetrator, 56,777 of the attacks on women were committed by a stranger.

Research conducted by YouGov in 2019 found that 61 percent of women in the U.S. frequently take steps to avoid being sexually assaulted. Fifty percent of women surveyed said they are "always" or "often" scared of walking home alone at night, while 23 percent said they always feel unsafe going to a stranger's home alone—compared to just 6 percent of men.

Twenty-four percent feared traveling to a foreign country by themselves, with 13 percent nervous about taking a taxi on their own. Twenty-one percent reported always or often feeling unsafe on a first date, while 8 percent are afraid to exercise outdoors or in public places.

The most common precautions women take to avoid attacks include remaining hyper-aware of their surroundings (73 percent), having their phone ready in case they need to call for help (68 percent), avoiding certain areas (66 percent), informing others of their location (64 percent) and not going out at certain times (60 percent).

'Creep'

In her post, Apprehensive_Can1008 said she's a 40-year-old woman who recently moved to a "super nice" suburb where her older sister lives with her children.

"It is a great area," she wrote. "Lots of parks, trails, with a really good school system."

However, as a single woman with no kids, she is an "outlier" in the community, which is primarily made up of families. Although she has been to a few neighborhood barbecues, the families mostly hang out together.

While watching TV one night, somebody began repeatedly ringing her doorbell and knocking "rapidly." The poster checked her Ring camera and saw an unknown man outside her front door. Her dogs began "freaking out," and as she lives alone and it was getting late, she decided to call the cops.

"He goes away after about 5-7mins, the cops show up 20 mins later," she said. "I show them the video, they told me they knew who it is (wouldn't tell me), and then left."

The next day, the poster received an angry call from her sister. The man banging on her front door was a "local neighborhood watch guy and schoolteacher" named Dave, who wanted to talk to her about "driving too fast."

"I was flabbergasted," she said. "There's no way to drive fast in this neighborhood, there are stop signs everywhere, cops everywhere (they have their own police force), and there are speed bumps every two blocks.

"Why didn't he call/text/email before knocking on the door at 9 p.m. on anyone's house, much less a single woman at home? Sister said that my reaction was totally over the top and 'you don't live in the hood anymore. People visit other people.'"

Although the poster believes she did the right thing by calling the police, her sister is still angry with her, as is the rest of the parental community.

She continued: "Apparently this was the discussion at the recent PTA meeting, and since I wasn't there (why would I go to a PTA meeting), she was charged with 'defending' me and now she looks bad by association."

Her driving isn't the only issue the neighbors have with the poster, with complaints that she walks her dogs "without her bra on."

Her sister wants her to apologize to Dave and say she was "crazy" for calling the police.

"She told me that I needed to play nice with the neighbors unless I wanted to be moving in a year," she wrote.

Reddit users agreed with the poster for standing her ground, with tatersprout calling Dave's actions "highly inappropriate," in a comment upvoted over 9,000 times.

Blondieonekenobi agreed, writing: "Dave is a stranger and even if he did identify himself and tell you why he was there, that still could have been a ruse to get you to open the door."

"You didn't overreact," said blueberryyogurtcup. "A stranger beating on your door at night is reason enough to be afraid and call the police."

Acegirl1985 commented: "I get the feeling if you answered the door there'd be a whole other police report. This guy knows you live there alone. He went to your house late (ish) at night with a flimsy excuse that in no way required an in person visit."

Others found it bizarre that the neighbors talked about the poster in a PTA meeting—especially her breasts.

"I'd attend the next PTA meeting just to ask Dave why he's so obsessed with my boobs," said kalequinoa.

"Who the f*** is paying that much attention to OP not wearing a bra that it's a TOPIC OF DISCUSSION DURING A PTA MEETING?" asked Silent_Attitudes365.

While aquascape_dude commented: "Seems to me and other folks here that Dave is a creep that is putting too much focus on you.

"Personally I would give this pta my mind about their ridiculous obsession with you and your body."

Newsweek has reached out to u/Apprehensive_Can1008 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.