A Woman Says Her Toddler Wandered a Few Feet Onto a Neighbor’s Property, Then It Escalated Into Car Threats, Dog Threats, and a Gun
"I'm going to use my Second Amendment right on you guys."
A woman says a dispute with her neighbor escalated over the course of three days, beginning with her toddler wandering onto a driveway and ending with a civil protection order and a confiscated firearm. According to Daily Dot, the creator, who posts as @taybsole, recounted the events after her family had recently moved into their home.
She said the trouble began on a Monday when her one-year-old son wandered a few feet past their property line while playing. The neighbor, whom she had previously found pleasant, became visibly angry and could reportedly be heard making threats during a video call the poster overheard. She said the neighbor threatened to hit her son with a car and to release dogs on him if he returned to the property.
She and her husband contacted the local sheriff’s non-emergency line as a precaution, though the responding deputy was unable to make contact with the neighbor before she left the area. The poster called 911 after seeing the gun, and the same deputy returned to attempt contact again. She said the neighbor initially refused to speak by phone before returning home, at which point the deputy visited her property to discuss a potential charge tied to the firearm.
What the Neighbor Reportedly Told the Deputy
According to the poster, the neighbor responded by telling the deputy that if she were charged, the department would need to send its entire staff, and that she wanted them to shoot her, an intent sometimes referred to as “suicide by cop.” Deputies advised the family to pursue a civil protection order. Displaying a firearm in a way that places another person in reasonable fear of injury generally falls under a specific criminal charge.
Under New York Penal Law 120.14, menacing in the second degree applies when someone intentionally places another person in reasonable fear of physical injury or death by displaying a deadly weapon, and no actual injury is required for the charge to apply. It’s classified as a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to a year in jail.
The order was granted later that day, though service to the neighbor wasn’t expected until the following morning. The neighbor then shouted and made obscene gestures at the poster’s father-in-law during a brief visit, then later sat in her car honking the horn for about 10 minutes, which the family recorded without responding. Deputies served the protection order later that day and confiscated the neighbor’s firearm during the visit, though officers reportedly indicated they expected further conflict.
The family is now preparing for a court date to request a five-year protection order rather than the current six-month version. Federal law adds a separate layer to the firearm confiscation itself. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a person subject to a qualifying protection order that restrains them from threatening another person is generally prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition for as long as that order remains active, independent of any state-level charge.
One point worth clarifying regarding neighbor disclosure laws: whether a home seller must disclose a documented nuisance neighbor to a buyer varies considerably by state, and there is no uniform national requirement. Some states, including California, have held sellers responsible for disclosing a known pattern of a neighbor’s offensive conduct, while others treat neighbor behavior as something buyers are expected to investigate themselves rather than something a seller is legally obligated to volunteer.
Daily Dot said it was unable to independently verify the details of this account, including the police reports, the protection order, and the neighbor’s statements described in the video.
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