So, here’s one about a guy wandering around the fringe of Park Slope that appeared in a post on Brooklynian:
Has anyone else noticed a guy hanging out on Dean and Bergen between 4th and 5th? I’ve been seeing him several times a day for the past couple months. He is always carrying a black plastic bag. Sometimes he stands outside Marines after it closes and stares into Black Sheep and Cafe Tapeo for hours. The reason I’m posting this is that he’s gone from standing and staring to doing some weird stuff that makes me nervous. One day I walked by and he swore at me for no reason. This morning, he followed my husband around the block as he walked our dog. He was snarling at the dog. Last week, he had his pants down between two cars on Dean at 4 in the afternoon. Last Sunday, he was trying to open the gated door to a basement apartment of a Bergen brownstone. Last night, he came running up Bergen like a bat out of hell, laughing wildly all the way to Flatbush. We’ve called the cops to report this behavior several times but each time they say – well, he hasn’t done anything, so we can’t do anything. The thing is, I think he’s been around long enough to learn residents’ patterns and I think he’s gotten bolder and could be getting ready to do something. I talked to a few local business owners who said they’re getting wary of him as well.
Someone who writes later in the thread says he may live on Bergen Street.
8 responses so far ↓
1 sebb // Sep 4, 2008 at 9:55 am
It’s very simple put cameras outside your home and Have one of the cameras tape the whole block. Problem solved.
2 James // Sep 4, 2008 at 9:59 am
Crack will make a man do crazy things. Seriously, this guy fits the profile of the Park Slope Crapper. If you catch him in the act, it might give the police a reason to scoop him up.
3 KaosDG // Sep 4, 2008 at 10:47 am
You know, I’ve lived in that area for a long damn time. (My parents still do)
I really wonder what people who live there now think, if they lived there 20-30 years ago? Hell, even 10.
Seriously, this was commonplace when I was a kid, you might even call it some of the “calmer” behaviour I used to witness.
4 Phil // Sep 4, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Like the last commenter said it was par for the course when I lived in PS 30 years ago. Face facts you’re living in a huge urban area, there’s always something to look out for. Maybe this “city awareness” has been evolved out of recent residents. . . Meanwhile I read where someone on some website was complaining about crossing the street and that there were too many cars. You think you’re in Seattle and you want the cars to stop for you?? You’ve got to wait for the cars. What else do you want, you bunch of whiners?
5 jake // Sep 4, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Sounds like garden variety mental illness coupled with poverty, possible substance abuse, homelessness, and the like: problems that the writer isn’t too familiar with and probably would like to believe don’t exist in his or her world. But they do, and the only answer is to move to a gated community in Alaska or Arizona if you don’t want to see this stuff. Yes, it’s scary and threatening. Call the cops again. But just don’t sound so darned naive. None of us has a right to that.
6 Eric // Sep 4, 2008 at 1:14 pm
This guy sounds schizophrenic, and he’s probably homeless.
The best thing to do might be to call 311 and report it.
7 Dave // Sep 4, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Oh, I wonder if this is the same guy I saw on Dean and Vanderbilt the other week with his butt hanging out.
8 Kannny // Sep 4, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Just because someone brings up a nut on a message board doesn’t make them a whiner, it makes them a community organizer.
Maybe it can get this man help.