Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

18 year old son attacked by neighbor

my son has amotorcycle license and was riding his bike home at 11:30pm sat. Put bike in our garage, when a man he didn't know in 50's came into our drive way saying my son woke him up. He grabbed my son's hemp necklace, pushed him to the ground and started strangling him. My son was with four friends who called the police. My son had very visible ligature abrasions on his neck and scratches. local police were called, charged man with harassment and let him go. No pictures were taken by police, but my husband took pictures after incident and a few days later of the contusions from the front, side and back. We found out later this is a neighbor of ours. ( We moved recently and haven't met all our neighbors). How can I get the charges changed from harassment? Shouldn't this be an assault or battery charge? This incident was totally unprovoked. How should we proceed? Thankyou.


Asked on 6/27/07, 12:11 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: 18 year old son attacked by neighbor

You have a neighborhood bully. This is an extremely serious problem and I wouldn't be surprised if the police are well acquainted with the guy or if this has happened before with other neighbors. It may be that the guy is a policeman or a firefighter himself and the police only charged him with harassment so they could keep it as a summary offense. I would seriously consider moving as a long term solution but I would also file a personal injury action against him.

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Answered on 6/28/07, 12:21 pm
Daniel Cevallos Cevallos & Wong, LLP

Re: 18 year old son attacked by neighbor

You can't get the police to change their charge, nor can you force the DA to do anything. You can bring a personal injury action against the person, which I recommend that you do. You can feel free to call our offices at 267.639.3105. There is no fee for a consultation.

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Answered on 6/27/07, 3:56 pm


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