League City: Serial "peeping Tom"

[marksiwel]

Obviously not, but you don't own the bathroom, so Castle Doctrine does not apply.

- Jim

What the THRONE doesnt count as part of the Castle?

[TLynnHughes]

Would a Woman be okay under the law to shoot in that situation? I think so

I don't see how. The creep is not threatening deadly force or attempting robbery, kidnapping, or sexual assault.

That's why I said using a knife would not be justified.

- Jim

He crawled into your Bathroom stall, he isnt there for tea and cookies.

Yeah, but if he's on his back under a bathroom stall, he's not exactly in a position to do much physical harm to me. If I wasn't in too much shock, I'd snap a pic of him with my cell phone. However, if he made any other types of moves such as standing up to face me if I decided to come out of the stall OR if he came over the top of the stall at me...it would be game on and it wouldn't be pleasant...for him. The police might come in to find me giving him a swirlie!

T.

[marksiwel]

Would a Woman be okay under the law to shoot in that situation? I think so

I don't see how. The creep is not threatening deadly force or attempting robbery, kidnapping, or sexual assault.

That's why I said using a knife would not be justified.

- Jim

He crawled into your Bathroom stall, he isnt there for tea and cookies.

Yeah, but if he's on his back under a bathroom stall, he's not exactly in a position to do much physical harm to me. If I wasn't in too much shock, I'd snap a pic of him with my cell phone. However, if he made any other types of moves such as standing up to face me if I decided to come out of the stall OR if he came over the top of the stall at me...it would be game on and it wouldn't be pleasant...for him. The police might come in to find me giving him a swirlie!

T.

Not to be graphic but you can do alot of physical damage to someone's privates with just your hands, even on your back, enough to kill someone.
Also if he does get up, how hard is it to kick down one of those doors from the OUTSIDE? not very. How about kicking them in from the inside, pretty hard to escape.
In that situation you are quite literally cornered and caught with your pants down.

[TLynnHughes]

Would a Woman be okay under the law to shoot in that situation? I think so

I don't see how. The creep is not threatening deadly force or attempting robbery, kidnapping, or sexual assault.

That's why I said using a knife would not be justified.

- Jim

He crawled into your Bathroom stall, he isnt there for tea and cookies.

Yeah, but if he's on his back under a bathroom stall, he's not exactly in a position to do much physical harm to me. If I wasn't in too much shock, I'd snap a pic of him with my cell phone. However, if he made any other types of moves such as standing up to face me if I decided to come out of the stall OR if he came over the top of the stall at me...it would be game on and it wouldn't be pleasant...for him. The police might come in to find me giving him a swirlie!

T.

Not to be graphic but you can do alot of physical damage to someone's privates with just your hands, even on your back, enough to kill someone.
Also if he does get up, how hard is it to kick down one of those doors from the OUTSIDE? not very. How about kicking them in from the inside, pretty hard to escape.
In that situation you are quite literally cornered and caught with your pants down.

Not real sure how to answer that without getting too graphic for the board, so I'll just let that one go. I'm just saying, if he does nothing more intimidating that crawling under to have a peek, I don't feel my life is in danger. However, any further escalation of the situation on his part would be unwise as I am armed and not at all squeamish about using it to de-escalate the situation. I hope for his sake that he doesn't make the mistake of pinning me in the stall. It would be one of the most unpleasant situations he's ever been in.

T.

[edmart001]

Obviously not, but you don't own the bathroom, so Castle Doctrine does not apply.

- Jim

I wonder if a high enough priced lawyer could something together about a stall behind a locked door being an area under your control?

[seamusTX]

I wonder if a high enough priced lawyer could something together about a stall behind a locked door being an area under your control?

Do you really want to have to pay a high-priced lawyer?

- Jim

[bizarrenormality]

Too bad pepper spray isn't a good idea indoors. A friend told me about pepper spraying a flasher one time, and she didn't aim for his face.

[marksiwel]

I wonder if a high enough priced lawyer could something together about a stall behind a locked door being an area under your control?

Do you really want to have to pay a high-priced lawyer?

- Jim

I hope people do, thats why I sent my wife off to Law School!

[USA1]

They've got the guy....Story here

[seamusTX]

Ya' beat me to it.

Here's a story from the local newspaper: http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewc ... e902a438d9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The creep did have an outstanding warrant, but it was a minor one.

It seems this type of crime should have an enhanced sentence for multiple convictions. As the law stands now, he can only be fined up to $500 per offense.

- Jim

[marksiwel]

Ya' beat me to it.

Here's a story from the local newspaper: http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewc ... e902a438d9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The creep did have an outstanding warrant, but it was a minor one.

it seems this type of crime should have an enhanced sentence for multiple convictions. As the law stands now, he can only be fined up to $500 per offense.

- Jim

Sounds like they need to make what he was doing a more serious offense.
Sexual assualt laws in this state (Country) are way behind the times.
Thats why I laugh when the Old Folks say "This never happened in our time" yes it did, you just didnt have the Media, Education, Laws, and Police Training to deal with it.

[ELB]

I was in a restroom at an Applebees about a month ago. I was the only one in there and standing at the urinal doing my business when a young lady jabbing on a cell phone bursts in. She stands there talking for about 5 seconds, when she glances over and notices a guy standing there. She turns about 8 shades of red and goes "Am I in the wrong bathroom or are you?" I smile and say "oh, that would be you". She turns and dashes out, but the whole time, the phone never leaves her ear.

When I was stationed in Germany, I found it was not all that unusual for women to enter the men's room to use the stalls when the women's room was full. The first time this happened was at a gas station on the autobahn --- there was a line out the door at the women's room. I went in the men's and joined the guys along the wall at the trough, and the whole time I was in there doing my thing, there were women darting in and out behind us going to the stalls. At Octoberfest there were women cleaning crew roaming around in the men's rooms, which of course were in constant use. However, I don't ever recall men invading the ladies' spaces...

break-break.

I know what the letter of the law says, but if this creep had gotten shot in the face while looking under a stall partition by some lady sitting on the throne, I have my doubts as to her getting charged with much.

[JJVP]

I was in a restroom at an Applebees about a month ago. I was the only one in there and standing at the urinal doing my business when a young lady jabbing on a cell phone bursts in. She stands there talking for about 5 seconds, when she glances over and notices a guy standing there. She turns about 8 shades of red and goes "Am I in the wrong bathroom or are you?" I smile and say "oh, that would be you". She turns and dashes out, but the whole time, the phone never leaves her ear.

When I was stationed in Germany, I found it was not all that unusual for women to enter the men's room to use the stalls when the women's room was full. The first time this happened was at a gas station on the autobahn --- there was a line out the door at the women's room. I went in the men's and joined the guys along the wall at the trough, and the whole time I was in there doing my thing, there were women darting in and out behind us going to the stalls. At Octoberfest there were women cleaning crew roaming around in the men's rooms, which of course were in constant use. However, I don't ever recall men invading the ladies' spaces...

break-break.

I know what the letter of the law says, but if this creep had gotten shot in the face while looking under a stall partition by some lady sitting on the throne, I have my doubts as to her getting charged with much.

If seen it happen here also. A few years back, when the Astrodome was still in use. There was a long line at the ladies restroom during an Astros game and several of them were taking advantage of the mens restrooms. Since most of the men were at the urinals, most of the stalls were open, so they made use of them.

I don't think a woman, or for that matter a man, would have any problem trying to justify shooting a perv trying crawl under a stall door. After all she/he doesn't know what the intent of the perv is. Is he there for just a looksy or is he trying to get into the stall to rape or murder the victim? "Officer, the man was trying to enter the stall and I feared for my life" is all the explanation needed. As some else said, you are essentially trapped with no place to retreat and get out of harms way.