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I will look into that. I just learned that the previous charges have been refiled with the DA's office, so we will probably be going back to court within the next couple months over the nails incident. I've never had to deal with the legal system before, so I had no idea how LONG everything takes in order to complete.

That letter sounds like a good idea, I'll talk to our lawyer about that..

I appreciate the help guys. We have the camera rolling, and "No Trespass" signs will be posted asap. Hopefully, with what happened today, this whole issue will end before something actually happens.

Would public peace mean more than just me and my family?

We have a paper trail of 19 reports from last year, and 7 from this year in instances where he has caused a distress, or some other incident concerning us.

Like I said, I could care less where I park, and typically, it's not a problem because I'm not home and have no need for occupying a parking space on the street. While I may be able to park someplace, I'd rather not tick him off and cause stuff like this to happen. Unfortunately, he escalates the situation SEVERELY when he drives his vehicle and tries to run over my mom (I just heard the story first-hand, and his actions WERE meant to create a fear of bodily injury).

We bought more tapes today, and we're in contact with our lawyer to get a restraining order against him. What is typically required for a restraining order?

This particular behavior started out of the blue. We had a lull in activity with him when we took him to court. He stopped the harassment and left us alone. Unfortunately, when the charges were dropped, he started his antics again.

The problem originally surfaced over a dispute of parking. I was home from school for a summer, and we didn't have enough area to park in our driveway. My sister was getting her license, so her car was parked in front of our house. Since his car is either in his driveway, or his garage, I just parked along the street in front of his house. He came across the street and confronted my dad, saying that my truck made his house look trashy, so he wanted it moved. My dad just got a brand new truck (mine was older, but it's not trashy) so we switched spots. I parked in our driveway, and my dad's new truck was parked along the curb. This still wasn't acceptable, and the following Saturday, at 7 in the morning, the guy was pounding on our door (I mean POUNDING) to get us to move the car. We didn't open the door, but later, we moved the vehicle to the next door neighbor's curb. Well, there were some problems occurring with people's cars being broken into, so we had to move our vehicles back to the curb across the street from our house, where the street light is. This caused a bit more of a problem, and that's when the guy started throwing nails under the tires. We bought a camera, and you know the rest.

The guy ended up getting a truck, and parking it across the street permanently. That's ok, since his next door neighbors have moved, so the spot which used to be occupied by them is open for my use. Prior to this, the nearest free parking spot on the street (with the exception of the big curb in front of the guy's house) was 3 or 4 houses down, which just invites a break-in.

This is a fairly long post, so I apologize in advance for it. I do have a few questions dispersed throughout, so any help would be appreciated.

Ok, in light of recent events that have occurred in my neighborhood, I was wondering what the best course of action is here. We've been having an issue with our neighbor across the street. We've video taped him throwing nails under my truck, and during that same week, my sister had a double blowout while she was on the highway (coincidence, I think not). Unfortunately, he got off on a technicality (the charges were misfiled by the police) and he was never punished.

Well, now he has a tendency to drive his car into our driveway. Not a big deal, as I'll occasionally use someone else's driveway to turn around in, but only the first few feet. He takes his car, drives until he's abreast with the passenger side of our car that is parked. He then sits for a bit like he's parked, and then he leaves. While this is happening, my mom is typically taking my little brother to school, so she is in the vicinity of her vehicle which is parked in the same driveway. Again, not something I'd like him to do, but I don't care that much because he stays in his car, and nothing else happens.
Here's where it gets stickier: A couple days ago when he did this, my little brother was getting into the passenger side of the car. The guy reverses across the street, and starts to bear down on my little brother with his vehicle! My mom was out there at the time, and had he not stopped earlier than he normally does, he would have hit my little brother. My mom was terrified because she had nothing to stop him with! She said she was completely defenseless, and had she not run to the end of the driveway, he probably would have backed up over my brother who was frozen in fear next to our car. My little brother is 7, so he's not that easy to see in the rear view mirror of a car, so the guy may not have seen my brother there.

I started thinking, if that were me out there, and I had my firearm, would I have been justified in drawing? I mean, I don't think he had the intention of running down my little brother, but then again, being parked in MY DRIVEWAY is none of his business, and if his actions are putting my little brother's life in danger, I'll be damned if I sit there and watch as he gets hit. He always has the windows up, so OC is out of the option. I started thinking, could you disable the vehicle by shooting the engine? I have a .40 so it's not a little bullet, but I don't think that would be big enough to do enough damage to the car to get it to stop. ALSO, if I were to shoot the guy, I run the risk of his foot pressing on the accelerator, and him speeding over my little brother. What would you do in this situation?

There's a second part to this story. My mom was outside this morning, and he did his typical backing up deal, but this time, as he crossed over the end of the driveway, my mom walked up to his car, and kicked it to stop him. At that point, she ran inside, and called the police. He was outside taking pictures of the damage, and when we told him he needed to wait for the police to get there, he jumped in his car, and sped off. I think my mom did a good job in keeping him out of the driveway, and kept my little brother out of more potential danger (he was inside, we decided that it would be best for him to stay in until the car is ready for him to get in). Was it wrong for her to boot the vehicle when he's backing up toward her? When I went outside, it looked like the car was angled toward where my mom was in the driveway (she was at the rear of her vehicle, loading some boxes into the trunk). I figure no physical harm no foul, but he might try to press for damages to his vehicle (although I saw none).

What do y'all think about this one? I know that I'm not justified in drawing my weapon while he's doing this crap and it's not really a threat to anyone, so I don't want to give the wrong impression here. But if he's backing a car into our driveway, and has the potential of pinning my mom up against her car, or running over my little brother, would a draw be justified? In the past, he hasn't caused anyone harm, but that could change very easily, and I would rather stop it before it happens. Help me out, if anyone can!