Late Night Scare

[Musashi]

Lost a lil sleep last night when a panic stricken stranger came by.

I first heard some very heavy door pounding coming from the outside hall. Looking out the peephole I saw a woman at my neighbors door across the hall. Figuring it was his visitor I went back to the bedroom. Moments later, there's more hard pounding, but this time coming from my door. I stood near the door and asked who she was. She wouldn't say, instead she was crying and sounded very frightened whilst begging me to let her in. I explained to her that I couldn't, since for all I know she could be an armed criminal pulling an act. She also told me call 911, which I was ready to do anyway. She then left, presumably to see if she could convince my neighbors to let her in. The officer came about 20 minutes later, I told him what I saw, though we were soon cut off when we heard more pounding coming from upstairs. He left to check it out. He said he'd be by again if he needed anything more, but I saw the police car leave shortly after.

This is one of those times where I really do want to help a person being pursued or in danger, but without knowing what the danger is and having never met her before, I could just be falling for a trap. Thus, I figured either way what she needed was to see a police officer.

Seems a little unsettling that the officer never came back to finish the interview, and so far neither my complex nor the local PD has any further information.

I've gotta wonder too: suppose she was legit scared and in danger. What should she have done? And did I do the right thing in try to talk and call for help but not let her inside?

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Lost a lil sleep last night when a panic stricken stranger came by.

I first heard some very heavy door pounding coming from the outside hall. Looking out the peephole I saw a woman at my neighbors door across the hall. Figuring it was his visitor I went back to the bedroom. Moments later, there's more hard pounding, but this time coming from my door. I stood near the door and asked who she was. She wouldn't say, instead she was crying and sounded very frightened whilst begging me to let her in. I explained to her that I couldn't, since for all I know she could be an armed criminal pulling an act. She also told me call 911, which I was ready to do anyway. She then left, presumably to see if she could convince my neighbors to let her in. The officer came about 20 minutes later, I told him what I saw, though we were soon cut off when we heard more pounding coming from upstairs. He left to check it out. He said he'd be by again if he needed anything more, but I saw the police car leave shortly after.

This is one of those times where I really do want to help a person being pursued or in danger, but without knowing what the danger is and having never met her before, I could just be falling for a trap. Thus, I figured either way what she needed was to see a police officer.

Seems a little unsettling that the officer never came back to finish the interview, and so far neither my complex nor the local PD has any further information.

I've gotta wonder too: suppose she was legit scared and in danger. What should she have done? And did I do the right thing in try to talk and call for help but not let her inside?

I would have done the same. Called police, not let anyone in. Perhaps gone and got a shotgun, as well.

[Jellybeans]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Lost a lil sleep last night when a panic stricken stranger came by.

I first heard some very heavy door pounding coming from the outside hall. Looking out the peephole I saw a woman at my neighbors door across the hall. Figuring it was his visitor I went back to the bedroom. Moments later, there's more hard pounding, but this time coming from my door. I stood near the door and asked who she was. She wouldn't say, instead she was crying and sounded very frightened whilst begging me to let her in. I explained to her that I couldn't, since for all I know she could be an armed criminal pulling an act. She also told me call 911, which I was ready to do anyway. She then left, presumably to see if she could convince my neighbors to let her in. The officer came about 20 minutes later, I told him what I saw, though we were soon cut off when we heard more pounding coming from upstairs. He left to check it out. He said he'd be by again if he needed anything more, but I saw the police car leave shortly after.

This is one of those times where I really do want to help a person being pursued or in danger, but without knowing what the danger is and having never met her before, I could just be falling for a trap. Thus, I figured either way what she needed was to see a police officer.

Seems a little unsettling that the officer never came back to finish the interview, and so far neither my complex nor the local PD has any further information.

I've gotta wonder too: suppose she was legit scared and in danger. What should she have done? And did I do the right thing in try to talk and call for help but not let her inside?

You did the right thing!

Never let a stranger come in your house! They could be a lunatic with a knife or something and you could be in danger!

[mikejet]

I've had people knock on my door in my apartment but none have ever asked for the police. That's crazy. At least they did come by.

I wouldn't open my door. Unless it were someone I knew.

[blu_sharpy]

You did the right thing. As you said she could have just been acting and was ready to put your life or anyone else's in danger if they let you in. And if she is in trouble, you wouldn't want it to become your problem as that could lead you down an even more dangerous road. You did the right thing by not letting her in and trying to voice your concerns. She was most likely drunk and was just having a bad night. Don't beat yourself up about, you did the right thing by not letting her problems become yours or something even worse happening.

[MaCruz]

You did the right thing.

Knowing me, I probably wouldn't hear the banging on the door.

[mikejet]

Must have been Katie. After what she did to Micah, yep, leave the door closed.

[Beta Man]

I would have told her I was calling the police, and told her to stay outside the door where I could see her (and let her know I would watch her) and probably would have asked what the problem was....... I of course would have grabbed one of my pistols (no shotguns currently) and kept it handy....

[Rob71]

You did the right thing. For all you knew an accomplice could have been standing just out of your view, waiting to rush in when you opened the door.

Accomplice...

Damn, I watch entirely too many cop shows.

[Musashi]

Seems the consensus is that I did alright. Although: it may disappoint Steinhauer and Beta, but I don't have any guns in my house, much less training in how to use them.

Couple other details I could mention: I made the call while she was still at the door and told her so. I'm sure I spoke loud enough to the operator for her to hear me, and I even tried to put it on the speaker so she'd know I was calling them. But I suppose she left either in best case to try and get warm or worst case to keep working her angle.

I considered calling one my friend/neighbors; a guy I've known since college, who is ironically living with and dating a girl I hung with a little back in grade school. Still, I figure given the late hour and potential danger I was better off sticking to the original plan.

[Jellybeans]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Seems the consensus is that I did alright. Although: it may disappoint Steinhauer and Beta, but I don't have any guns in my house, much less training in how to use them.

Couple other details I could mention: I made the call while she was still at the door and told her so. I'm sure I spoke loud enough to the operator for her to hear me, and I even tried to put it on the speaker so she'd know I was calling them. But I suppose she left either in best case to try and get warm or worst case to keep working her angle.

I considered calling one my friend/neighbors; a guy I've known since college, who is ironically living with and dating a girl I hung with a little back in grade school. Still, I figure given the late hour and potential danger I was better off sticking to the original plan.

If something like that happens again, barricade yourself!

buy more locks for your door! Have some pepper spray handy!

[Lord_Stewie]

OP you did the right thing. This happened to me before as well at a really late time. I woke up and decided not to open the door nor respond, and in matter of minutes someone called the cops and it turned out to be a stunt pulled off to scare the residents in the building.

[Chordata]

You did the right thing to protect yourself.

I don't even want my wife opening the door during the day to strangers, let alone at night.

I've read so many atrocious criminal cases about breakins due to someone just letting someone inside (which then leads to rape, murder, etc.). You just can't do it if you want to protect yourself and those in your home.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by Jellybeans

If something like that happens again, barricade yourself!

buy more locks for your door! Have some pepper spray handy!

I'm still a renter so I'm not sure if I can modify the door. It has a dead bolt and a bar currently.

The spray might work..back in high school I caught an accidental and very slight scent of the stuff and it mega-sucked. Can't even imagine what a full dose feels like.

Of course, I did do one thing that everyone who wants to feel more protected should do: take a karate class. Did about 5 years of it back inthe 90s.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Jellybeans

If something like that happens again, barricade yourself!

buy more locks for your door! Have some pepper spray handy!

Or if you have a paintball gun, some of these:

http://realxtremepaintball.com/produ...ducts_id=10780

I would like to talk to someone that's been hit by some of these to see how potent they are.

[dpomp]

i know you said you didn't have any further info on what happened but i'm kinda curious as to what did happen.

did the cop have the lady in the back of the car?? or did he speed off like he was going to another scene (possibly where the lady came from) hmm..

i would have opened the door.

[master_8ball]

Its sad now with all the home invasions going down that you cant even feel safe enough to help someone. I would have done the same, or opened the door with the bat in hand that I keep next to it. My house you to be occupied by a crack dealer, I have had some very sketchy people come to the door in the wee hours of the morning many times.

[Hammie]

I would have let her in, turned on some soft love-making music, lit a fire near the bearskin rug, and poured her a nice glass of Courvoisier.

Seriously, though, you did the right thing.

[toef]

It's a tough call, so I don't know what I would've done. If she was being chased by some guy, I'd hate to think I allowed him to catch her, by not letting her in. If it was all part of an act, and an accomplice was waiting, s/he must've been far down the hall, since the OP said he saw her banging on other doors in the hall, and made no mention of noticing a second person moving around with the crazy woman.

Unrelated story:

Back when I was in grad school, it was a typical Saturday evening, I'd just finished eating dinner, and was waiting for some friends to show up to my apartment.

I hear a playful knock at the door, and just assume it's my friends, so I whip the door open.

It wasn't my friends.

It was two guys trying to sell magazine subscriptions. It was odd because they looked in their mid/late 20s, and as though they'd been out of prison for maybe a week now. Not to mention they both looked like they could use a shower. And as soon as I opened the door they took a step into the doorway.

They explained they were in some sort of competition, to see who could sell the most magazine subscriptions, and that the winning team would get a trip. They asked if I knew where the trip was to, and I said no. Then one guy loudly said "To the moon!" and pointed up, and then gave some crazy laugh.

So then the second guy says "Do you know why I'm smiling right now?", and I said no. His response: "I'm grinnin' 'cause I'm winnin'."

At this point I thought it was only a matter of time before one or both of them pulled out a weapon and tried to rob my apartment. So when one of them reached behind their back, and then swung their arm forward, I was almost certain he'd be holding a knife. But fortunately his hand swung back holding a brochure with magazines to subscribe to.

From then on it was just a matter of getting the two guys to go away, but that was easier said than done. I faked interest in a magazine or two, but said I didn't have a credit card. They told me a check would be fine, but I told them I have a checkless-checking account. They told me my debit card would be fine, but I told them I left my wallet at my friend's house the night before. I told them they could come back tomorrow, and they looked at each other and then told me they couldn't come back. Finally sensing that it was getting nowhere, after 20 minutes or so, they finally decided to walk off to another apartment.

Thinking that maybe it was all a plot to scout out apartments to break into, I fired off an email to my apartment complex's security guy, and minutes later he sent out an apartment-wide email warning people to not answer their doors for these guys.

Turns out they were part of a traveling magazine sales company. The company preys on ex-cons, runaways and the like, and basically crams them into vans and drives them from town to town selling magazines. They're paid something like $20 per day, fed fast food, and crammed together into a motel for the night. They're not allowed to have cell phones, or converse with people they meet (other than when trying to sell them magazines). Unfortunately for them, once they get caught up in the scam, it's a little hard to quit, since they're probably stuck in the middle of nowhere, miles away from home, and only $20 in their pocket.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I would have told her I was calling the police, and told her to stay outside the door where I could see her (and let her know I would watch her) and probably would have asked what the problem was....... I of course would have grabbed one of my pistols (no shotguns currently) and kept it handy....

I would have done the same thing. Never open a door and let someone like this in unless you are armed, and even then, it's still not a good idea unless you are sure it's not a set-up.