Guy Gets Mistakenly Identified As His Drug-dealing Neighbor And Gets Threatened By Thugs
OP's life was saved by his quick thinking and a Tom Cruise movie
Our OP's (original poster) year didn't exactly start great. He lost his father to cancer, his sister had a miscarriage, and his birthday party involved an exploding barbecue. All bad things come in threes, right?
OP believed that his luck was bound to change sometime soon when he moved to his new three-story house in a small village in Sussex, England. When he and his girlfriend moved in, they met their new neighbor.
The new neighbor is a 5-foot-8 blond guy in his mid-30s, who also happens to be a drug dealer. The fact that the neighbor is in the illicit substance business didn't bother OP as much since he enjoys the occasional weed, and they harmoniously coexisted.
Two months after moving in without anything bad happening, OP fully believed his luck had changed. Until one night, as it turns out, living beside a drug dealer became a very obvious problem.
OP was watching a horror film and had gotten a little high. His girlfriend had just come home from a work event and went straight to bed. OP was spooked by the film he was watching and followed his girlfriend to bed.
He was about to fall asleep when he suddenly heard a loud banging in his house. OP brushed it off, thinking it was just him being paranoid.
The next thing he woke up to was a bunch of thugs brandishing crowbars, yelling very loudly at him and his girlfriend. OP tried to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth.
He also tried to shield his frightened girlfriend from possible harm. OP thrust his legs out and kicked one of the men in the groin, which earned him a hit with a crowbar on his legs.
OP was threatened not to repeat that again. He behaved accordingly, and the yelling resumed; OP's girlfriend was yelling, and the group of men were also yelling.
The leader of the group was demanding that OP give him the bag of money. Confused, OP asked what bag of money they were talking about.
The leader yelled, “Give us the fucking bag of money; we know you’ve got the bag of money!” To which OP replied that he did not have a bag of money. Then, a Tom Cruise movie popped into his head.
You can read OP's full post below:
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OP watched Mission Impossible 3 the night before, and a similar scene came to mind.
Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise's character) wife was taken hostage, and Hunt was trying to negotiate with the captors. He said, “I want to give you what you want, but you’ve got to do what’s right!”
This inspired OP to negotiate with the ringleader standing in his bedroom, demanding a bag of money from OP.
OP said, “I don’t have a bag of money. I want to get you what you want, but you have to do what’s right and leave this poor girl alone.” The thugs replied that OP had apparently sold drugs to their daughter.
First, the thugs weren't in sync about what their plan was, and second, the men were after OP's drug-dealing neighbor.
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Now, it's clear that these goons were after the neighbor.
The dealer neighbor, who has so much excess energy even after smoking pot from 7 in the morning until sundown, has to practice boxing.
He's also a craftsman who makes things. He can be seen making a giant wooden triangle in the communal parking lot.
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The wooden triangle in question. What's it for? Nobody knows but him.
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OP could have sent the thugs to his neighbor's house, but he didn't think that was the right thing to do.
So, OP said he's not a drug dealer, but he has some valuable things that this gang can take as long as they leave them alone.
The ringleader realized that OP was not the person they were looking for and asked if they were terrorizing the right home.
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Chaos ensued as the thugs realized they invaded the wrong home!
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After realizing their mistake, they threatened that they would come back for OP if he called the cops...
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... stupid or brave, OP said: “You seriously think I won't call the cops? Best I can do is give you a thirty-second head start.”
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The leader shook OP's hand, apologized, and said he hoped that OP's girlfriend would be okay, then left.
OP immediately used their bed to jam the door, then consoled his visibly shocked girlfriend. OP thought the ordeal was over, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
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The thugs correctly identified the home they were looking for this time and barged into the drug dealer's home.
The drug-dealing neighbor was with his girlfriend, too. However, he abandoned his girlfriend when the thugs invaded his home.
He escaped through the window and went into OP's home, yelling that there were people in his house.
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OP called the police using his girlfriend's phone while the neighbor grabbed a knife and went after the thugs himself.
OP had enough and stayed behind the safety of his barricaded room along with his girlfriend. Eventually, the police showed up and took statements.
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The neighbor broke his ankle when he jumped from his bedroom window and had to be carted off to the hospital.
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He tried to talk to OP one last time, but he shut him down. The drug-dealing neighbor was injured and humiliated.
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The drug dealer demanded that the police arrest the ringleader, but they didn't have enough evidence to lock him up.
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A month later, the drug-dealing neighbor asked OP to his garage and proceeded to accost him for blaming him for the whole incident.
Apparently, he took matters into his own hands and put the ringleader in a box (presumably to torture him) and tried to show OP a piece of video evidence, which OP refused to look at.
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He also said that OP reacted like a coward.
OP asked the neighbor which was more cowardly: screaming out of shock and fear or jumping out of a window to leave your girlfriend behind?
They haven't said anything to each other since then, and OP, fortunately, moved to a different house, hoping not to see the drug-dealing neighbor again.
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Redditors are glad that OP has since moved forward with his life
therealstealthydan, The-Go-Kid
Some were concerned about his girlfriend, who is now his ex
lidsil, The-Go-Kid
That could have ended differently
BlueWingedTiger, Originalvipers
Another Tom Cruise movie came to mind
TheRickiestMorty
This is true
moondogged
The thugs were smarter than OP gave them credit for
Broewly
OP's response was shocking for a lot of commenters
top_kek_top
Possibly Canadian
molotok_c_518
Some wondered how OP is doing...
Nesrynn
... and he shared that he still has some lingering trauma
The-Go-Kid
We can't make this stuff up!
cowz77
Yeah, the neighbor should have paid for the damages, but his ego was too bruised after what OP said
urmomstits
As for the exploding barbecue...
mishtersmiley
OP's life back then was just a series of unfortunate events
The-Go-Kid
Here's evidence of the 'explosive' party:
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Fortunately, OP has now recovered from that horrible year. We hoped for a more satisfying ending for the thugs and the drug-dealing neighbor, but sadly, OP's life is not a Tom Cruise movie.
How about you, dear readers? Would you continue to live in a house next to a problematic drug dealer? How would you handle the situation if you were in OP's shoes?
Lastly, would you have told a group of criminals that you would call the police and that the best you could do for them is give them a thirty-second head start?
