AIBU in not giving their ball back?

[jenniepanda]

8pm tonight, knock at the front door, 10-ish year old boy that I didn't recognise said "my ball is in your garden". No sorry, or please can I have it back. I went into the back garden to look for it and a stone landed at my feet, obviously thrown by one of the boys waiting for the ball. I shouted that they couldn't now have it back and went back inside.
9.30, man hammering on front door who I recognised as a neighbour from about 4 doors away, he said "I want my sons ball back" I said I didn't have it, I had the ball of a lad I didn't recognise, he insisted it was his son's ball, I know his son, it was not him who came to ask for it back. I said I wasn't going to give the ball back to whoever it belonged to until I got an apology from whoever threw the stone at me. He repeatedly said, "I want the ball back". THEN he said if I didn't give it back he would take something to the value of the ball, like a hanging basket. I said, "hang on mate, please dont threaten me, I'm not giving it back until I have an apology". This went on for a few minutes. Then he picked up two pots of plants from the front door and walked off with them.
So I rang the police.
Apparently it is not theft as they were taken in retaliation for something else. The lady at the call centre asked how long this conflict had been going on, I said it hadn't, in fact I am on quite good speaking terms with his wife! However I did insisit that it get recorded and that someone come round to sort it out as I felt quite shaken at being threatened at 9.30 at night by him. In fact I'm still shaking as I type this. I'm still waiting for someone to come round, I assume it will be tomorrow now.
AIBU in doing this, did I over react, what would you have done? What if the ball had damaged something in the garden, what if the stone had hit me, or the dogs, or the dcs?

UPDATE: the community police officers came round this evening and were great, they didn't give me any indication that I was an inconvienience, or wasting their time. They took details of my side of the story, then said ideally they would ask him to apologise and get it all sorted if that was ok with me. But that in future I should give the ball beack and then contact them and get them to deal with the stone throwing separately, which is fair enough, but not very useful when I dont know who has thrown the stone. Amyway, 10 minutes later they came back with him and the plant pots, he was all smiles and said he'd even watered them for me. We shook hands, although he didn't actually utter the word 'sorry'. He said he would get the lad who threw the stone to come to apologise. Apparently he told the officers that he was going to bring them back round himself this evening, although this was at 8.30, so I'm not sure what time that was going to be.
Then shortly afterwards there were 5 lads at the door, one of whom said he was sorry for throwing the stone and he didn't know why he did it.
So all sorted, although I admit it got out of hand I'm still glad that I involved the police. I'm a little shocked at all the comments that think I should have turned a blind eye to this, but I think that if you let kids this age get away with this sort of behaviour without facing up to their actions, then you're just setting them up for a very bad future.

Quite right. Well done. So you had no need to be superior and wise, in the end then? Or of trained mediators? Shame. I'll put me village elder's ceremonial robes back in the mothballs.

If ya can't take it, don't dish it out!

Simples.

Thanks for the update OP

Not read the whole thread but am v surprised that the police were needed to sort this out. It all sounds v petty and rather silly. Neither of the adults behaved well, as far as I can see.

Got to say, I would to be a full-grown adult who needed the police to sort out something so trivial. I don't envy them the reams of mind-numbing paperwork either. It's not a question of 'turning a blind eye' but of behaving calmly and rationally LIKE AN ADULT and managing small problems without having to get the police in to strong-arm the oppposition.

Except that it rather sounds like the community police intervention brought the man back to his senses (whereas before he was pig headed and aggressive). I would say that the outcome rather vindicates the OP

Stricly going by the letter of the post title (and just to be argumentative!) - the CPO's told the OP that she should have given the ball back so she was BU.

This would have avoided the later confrontation with the neighbour who undoubtedly will now harbour unpleasant thoughts about the OP (as will the previously friendly wife and the local kids) so it's going to be a pretty hollow victory.