Sunday, January 29, 2006

Unwanted night visitor - second incident

Hi all -- I live with Rachel (who posted on December 17th, 2005) -- we live on 19th between College & Bayview.

Yesterday (Saturday), someone repeatedly rang our doorbell around 2:30 in the afternoon. They disappeared by the time I got to the door. I didn't think anything of it at the time.

But then at 4am (Sunday) another disturbance: someone ringing our doorbell over and over, yelling and banging at our door. We didn't see anyone -- again, they disappeared before we got there -- but we called 911 right away. After the call, I stepped outside and saw the woman with white hair banging and kicking the door at 2340 19th (the yellow house that just became a rental last year). She was screaming "unlock the door!" and "let me in!" We called 911 again with an update on her location.

Police responded right away. (Thank you SPD.) Through the front window, we could see an officer standing inside, talking with a couple seated on a couch. Around 5am, a taxi arrived. The police escorted the white-haired woman as she loaded a bunch of stuff into the taxi. The taxi took off, and we walked out to talk with the officer.

I didn't catch the officer's name, but he was very friendly, courteous, professional. He explained that the couple that lives in that house had a fight, and he locked her out. After discussion with the police, it was decided that she should leave the house immediately. ("But she'll probably be back soon," he added.) He said she obviously "has mental issues," quite possibly schizophrenia, but the police can't have her committed because she's not a direct threat to herself or anyone else at this point in time.
 
Direct threat or not, it's not easy to just shrug off someone yelling and banging on my door in the middle of the night. If anyone knows the phone number for the landlord of that rental, we'd love to let them know how their tenants are affecting the neighborhood.
 
--
Darin
 
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3 comments:

Beacon Crime Watch said...

Hi Darin - maybe one of our real estate friends can find out the owner's name. Then we can contact them directly. I'll see what I can find out. Hang in there, L.

4:34 PM
Anonymous said...

Lee -- a friend in real estate just provided us the landlord's name and phone number. Should I post it here, or would that be a breach of privacy?

In other news... the police came to "the yellow house" again today. Apparently the schizophrenic woman was back, so they waited until she loaded her belongings into a taxi and left. It sure didn't take long for her to return, huh?

The police's recommendation about late night disturbances: if it happens again, we can take out an anti-harrassment order against her. It would build their case if other neighbors did the same. I'd prefer if she just left us alone, but we'll see if that happens.

-- Darin

4:53 PM
Anonymous said...

Hi Darin - I'd also like to figure out how to get the landlord to do something about that house. Please let me know who to call, or if you've got another strategy.

We had a incident with the white haired woman coming into our yard and assaulting our dog. I've also called 911 re: late night yelling and door banging (not much response, unfortunately).

I haven't seen her lately, but I'd like to ask the owner to insure that junk in the yard and rusty nails in the alley are cleaned up. The owner might also be concerned that many of the back windows on the house have been broken.

-- Kelly (2339 20th)

11:01 PM

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