No laughing matter...this one!
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man from Long Island, New York, is facing up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine after a neighbour complained to police he was laughing too loudly, his lawyer said.
Police issued Robert Schiavelli, 41, two tickets for disturbing the peace for laughing out the window of his home in Rockville Centre on Long Island at about 6 pm on Feb 12 and Feb 13, his lawyer said. Schiavelli said the neighbour regularly mocks his disability, and the best response to those taunts is laughter.
“He just ridicules me all the time and the only thing I can come up with is laughing,” Schiavelli said in a telephone interview.
His lawyer, Andrew Campanelli, said his client has frequent seizures as a result of neurological impairments but denied his laugh is loud or boisterous. “He’s like a big teddy bear, he’s got a low laugh,” Campanelli said.
Schiavelli lives with his mother, Suzanne Schiavelli, who said in an interview on Wednesday that he had a “fairly loud” laugh. “I think it’s infectious. It’s cute,” she said. “When my husband died, we said to ourselves, ‘We’re going to make sure to laugh every day and make the most of life.’”
Daniel O’Hanion, the neighbour who made the complaint, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. O’Hanion and Schiavelli live in adjacent private homes about 20 feet apart, separated by two driveways.
The Rockville Centre Police Department said they issued the summonses after receiving complaints about an ongoing pattern of noisemaking.
“On two occasions, police actually observed this individual creating a disturbance directed at neighbours and in violation of local law,” police said in a statement.
Schiavelli’s mother said O’Hanion often calls her son a “retard,” parodies his speech and mocks his walk. Relations worsened when they had builders in to renovate their house over O’Hanion’s objections, she said. Campanelli said that a judge declined a motion to dismiss the case at a village court hearing on Tuesday.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/en...
neighbour should be shifted to an isolated place ..
No doubt a torturous experience we all go through in Ramadhan.. neighbors cooking yummy smelling stuff at noon!
the judge first.
How about reporting Neighbors when their indian food is being cooked during ramadan at noon,
cuz they leave their freakin door open all the time....
How is anyone suppose to fast with that smell violating Ramadan....
Can we sue here?? :/
stealth, playing loud music at odd hours may be annoying to neighbours but laughing loudly..??
what about the offensive smell of dried fish coming from some kitchens...can this be reported against too?
well the same thing can happen here as well. if your neighbor is too loud, go report them to the authorities and they will take care of it.
The case ie. Seems both neighbors have their issues hence penalizing the laughing one will not be just. The fact that he also happens to be disabled and mocked at somehow makes him seem more the victim than the one who made the complaint. Funny though that such cases even make it to courts in some parts of the world..ah well different strokes for different folks!
Its US out of all places..but I guess laughing is not related to freedom of speech that US proclaims to protect amongst its citizens.
hahaahahahahaha Im sued...fined...jail..for laughing out loud...it's a crime then...
Lol
Outrageous over use of the tax payers money again.
Desperate lawyers, they will take anything to get money.
These lawyers now days seem sue happy.
Karak time.....
Looks like it is due to a neighbourly feud. Hope the judge throws out the case.