Livid Homeowners

[capetrees]

some things are worth going to court over and even a little jail time isn't too bad either. Who's the witness to the "crime", your helper? Lay him out and claim a branch got him. He WAS that close to the chipper, WASN'T HE? He touched you didn't he and implied bodily harm TWICE didn't he? Self protection? Absolutely.

 

[Groundman One]

today must have started off a little too nice i guess because as i find myself slaving brush into a BC1000 i am confronted by and extremely angry homeowner that proceeds to tell me that we messed his tree up and hes gonna shove me into the BC1000. He grabbed my arm...

I am a non-violent person, but the millisecond he touched me after that utterance I would have attacked him without a shred of mercy. You had every right to exercise any level of self-defence given his behaviour.

By all means call the cops and press charges. A death threat followed by the lightest touch is a very serious affair.

 

[arbor pro]

Hasn't anyone thought of calling the police? This sounds like a physical assault along with a verbal threat of deadly violence. Around here that will get you in jail every time.

It is very hard to place complaint calls to the utility company when you are calling from the cellblock payphone. Furthermore, I cannot imagine that a complaint from a homeowner will gain much credibility with the utility company when it follows a criminal charge for assault against their personnel.

I do not do any utility clearance so I have never encountered this problem. But my guys do enforce municipal weed control ordinances, and we occasionally get threatened by homeowners with guns to leave their property alone. The offender gets arrested, the tall weeds get mowed anyway, and the property owner ends up with a huge bill as well as a city fine, on top of their criminal charges.

If the homeowner only orders us to leave the property, we invite them to summon the police. We agree to depart peacefully if the police instruct us to go. Usually, they shut up and go back inside their house.

+10...and we wonder why it's hard to get respect in our profession when guys would think first to pull a gun or lay a guy out than call the police who are trained and paid to handle such situations. Besides, I'd rather the homeowner did the time in jail than me - I've got too much work to do. And, if you pull a gun or lay someone out, chances are you're taking the rest of the day off to answer a bunch of questions down at the local cop shop...

 

[Nailsbeats]

+10...and we wonder why it's hard to get respect in our profession when guys would think first to pull a gun or lay a guy out than call the police who are trained and paid to handle such situations. Besides, I'd rather the homeowner did the time in jail than me - I've got too much work to do. And, if you pull a gun or lay someone out, chances are you're taking the rest of the day off to answer a bunch of questions down at the local cop shop...

This has nothing to do with our profession, it has to do with personal rights. The right to defend yourself while under physical and verbal attack.

 

[pdqdl]

some things are worth going to court over and even a little jail time isn't too bad either. Who's the witness to the "crime", your helper? Lay him out and claim a branch got him. He WAS that close to the chipper, WASN'T HE? He touched you didn't he and implied bodily harm TWICE didn't he? Self protection? Absolutely.

Lay him out and then lie to the cops about it? ARE YOU NUTS ?!?
Now YOU have become a criminal, and the witness is the cop you lied to. Then you are permanently out of work and locked up in jail with a record of on-the-job violence. All for the satisfaction of hitting a guy that got upset about you hurting his tree. Is it really worth that?

I suppose it all boils down to personal preference, but there is NO chance of being put in jail for being assaulted and then calling the cops, and there is an excellent probability of getting personal satisfaction from the results and praise from your employer. Even though you might not get charged with a crime for defending yourself, the stronger your retaliation, the greater your risk of jail. If you put the man in the hospital, you will probably get fired, even if you didn't get arrested. After it's all settled, he could still sue you and make your life he!! for the next five year with the litigation. Just look at all the people who shot a burglar and ending up paying for their life support.

Your employer knows there was an extremely low probability that some homeowner without a weapon is going to push ANY tree worker into a chipper. They will react accordingly. Don't think the cops don't know that also.

If nothing else, it takes longer to get the cops to not arrest you when the person that calls them is the paramedics or the victim of your defense. You call the cops first, they almost always arrest the other person that didn't make the call.

 

[tree MDS]

This makes me glad I do residential - the customer actually wants us there at least. I can see how one might snap when confronted with that, no need to be within our worksite to begin with but to startle me while chipping? With that? Not sure how I'd react to that one. If I go into say a mechanics shop and say and they are working on somthing of mine, even though I've been around that stuff all my life - I make sure its cool with them. Its called respect. I dont think I would have hit him though - unless just because of being startled like that maybe.

 

[MuniciPAL]

the Public utilities commision followed up today and its a way bigger deal than i initially thought. i was asked if i wanted to follow up with charges and whatnot. i declined seeing as how i wasnt all that put out by it, i just didnt want to flip out and lose my job. the guy got stared down by the entire convoy of bucket trucks today and was consulted by big wigs within the utility. i hope he has changed his tune come next time we trim that line.

 

[Saw Bones]

today must have started off a little too nice i guess because as i find myself slaving brush into a BC1000 i am confronted by and extremely angry homeowner that proceeds to tell me that we messed his tree up and hes gonna shove me into the BC1000. he grabbed my arm and i immediately yelled "dont F'n touch me" and cocked my fists. he said " ill do it if i want" and proceeded to try once more. i backed up and said "settle the F down", "were outta here" . the trees were carolina poplars directly underneath 3 phases of 7200. im still in disbelief over the incident.
lets hear some stories guys, you have all been doing this longer than me.

If he touched you that constitutes assault. If you have witnesses call the police and have him charged. The threat to put you in the chipper may aggrivate the charge. I would seriously file a complaint against him. (Shooting him or fighting with him opens up a whole new can of worms)

 

[pdqdl]

The homeowner was a bully. Guys like that need to learn.

Unlike yourself, this clearly was an individual that lets his anger guide his actions. You don't really need a witness, but your co-worker in the bucket is clearly enough to pursue a criminal charge.

I would press charges. Not out of revenge, but because it would create a formal record documenting his dangerous behavior. It would probably only get written down to a misdemeanor charge, but it would also establish that here is a person with anger control issues.

Next time he got out of control, the "other guy" might not have a good witness, and the next assault victim might be defending his freedom after he knocked this dude's block off. The courts DO consider prior history when it comes to court.

 

[nametrux]

Yes

What pdqd said makes good seance for everyone.

 

[Rftreeman]

I had a drunk spit on me one day, his left eye just started bleeding after that for some odd reason and he was lying on the ground for some odd reason too, just can't put my finger on it as to why..............as for calling the police, who has time for all that, then you got court dates and other B/S to deal with.............

 

[Nailsbeats]

Yes definitely press charges, especially given the opportunity, it's not about you anymore, it's about saving somebody from this character down the road. You already had your shot at him, at least attempt to bring this to light. Of course, I am speaking for myself again, and I would have been in whole different set of circumstances by now.

 

[ponderosatree]

today must have started off a little too nice i guess because as i find myself slaving brush into a BC1000 i am confronted by and extremely angry homeowner that proceeds to tell me that we messed his tree up and hes gonna shove me into the BC1000. he grabbed my arm and i immediately yelled "dont F'n touch me" and cocked my fists. he said " ill do it if i want" and proceeded to try once more. i backed up and said "settle the F down", "were outta here" . the trees were carolina poplars directly underneath 3 phases of 7200. im still in disbelief over the incident.
lets hear some stories guys, you have all been doing this longer than me.

Yikes! Was he your client or a neighbor? I would have called the cops immediately and pressed charges.

 

[masterarbor]

today must have started off a little too nice i guess because as i find myself slaving brush into a BC1000 i am confronted by and extremely angry homeowner that proceeds to tell me that we messed his tree up and hes gonna shove me into the BC1000. he grabbed my arm and i immediately yelled "dont F'n touch me" and cocked my fists. he said " ill do it if i want" and proceeded to try once more. i backed up and said "settle the F down", "were outta here" . the trees were carolina poplars directly underneath 3 phases of 7200. im still in disbelief over the incident.
lets hear some stories guys, you have all been doing this longer than me.

You should have punched him in the ass!

 

[capetrees]

Picturing that in my mind, I can't see how that would solve anything.