The Perfect Neighbor - Netflix

[ohnonowwhat1]

Sorry if there is another thread, I couldn’t find it.

Ive just watched this documentary and can’t stop thinking about it.
Basically about a neighbourhood where kids are being kids and one neighbour takes huge exception to them and how it escalates.

A very interesting, very sad story which was well made. At times we probably saw a little too much but it was filmed and made entirely using police body cam and cctv.

At one point I was bawling my eyes out in one particular scene.

Although a harrowing watch it’s a good documentary.

Yes we watched it last night, it was powerful and really kept us talking late.

I watched this last night. I think she knew what she was doing she sounded like a miserable old lady! The part when the kids were told about their mum was heartbreaking had me crying! 😪

Even that "note" she wrote to the family was all about her and basically blaming the victim.

Did you think the kids were just being kids? I don’t know, I do think they antagonised her - obviously not for one second suggesting that the outcome was in anyway justified! The woman was clearly mentally unwell and I think the police could have done more. In the UK I like to think there would have been mediation at least, or that she would have been listened to/spoken to a bit more - not least to stop wasting police time!
The sentence, however, was correct and justified in my view.

That part really had me crying

It was superb, but a very hard watch.

It was appalling that she wasn’t sanctioned in some way for all the vexatious calls to the police for basically no good reason. Setting off her own truck alarm, putting up bogus signs and claiming the land was private property when it wasn’t, etc..

The most appalling part was that she wasn’t immediately arrested for the shooting. As the community said, if it was the other way around, the black person would have been arrested and charged in a heartbeat.

Her behaviour when the officers told her she was being arrested spoke volumes. Her arrogance and entitlement led her to believe that by flatly refusing to comply would result in them just letting her go. Awful, awful woman. Glad she got such a long sentence, she won’t see daylight again.

Rest in peace AJ ❤️‍🩹

Before I knew how it ended, I did sometimes find myself feeling sorry for her. Even if it was in her head or she was mentally unwell I think she truly believed she was being harassed even if she actually wasn’t.
And I don’t doubt the kids probably antagonise her but unfortunately that’s what kids do sometimes. I remember growing up there was house we were told never to go near and the owner was a grumpy old man who would shout at us for no reason. I’m ashamed to say we did ‘ding dong ditch’ a couple of times. I was only a kid but should have known better.
but also it sounds like she objected to things they were allowed to do and it just escalated from there.
I agree with the judge that she probably shot in anger more then fear and in the end my sympathies lay mainly with those poor kids.

it’s just a sad story all round. Also a something struck a chord with me - when one of the neighbours when protesting about why Susan wasn’t in jail said if it was one of us we’d be in jail. Absolutely true and the stats at the end proved it

I watched it and thought the kids were probably pain the arses sometimes but that she would not have tolerated anything apart from silence and the kids staying inside their house.
What kind of housing estate was it? Only asking because I am sure one of the police officers made a comment to the deceased lady about how she (the officer) didn’t like these places and so she bought her own house - something like that.

I think the police should have done more to sort the problems.

The Stand Your Ground thing was interesting - 100% she expected it to go her way using that

I also watched it and thought how much I’d hate to live on an estate with all those kids running feral. The obvious answer though was for her to move instead of being wound up by it. I cannot believe she wasn’t immediately put in jail and it shows how damn awful Americas gun laws are. She shot in anger not fear and she 100% deserved her sentence, I didn’t recognise her in court at the end.

Poor AJ and her lovely kids.

The part where the kids were distraught was heartbreaking - too personal to watch.
The neighbour was a menace and played the victim I thought

The whole thing felt like a true-crime game come to life 😬. If anyone’s into that kind of suspense, there’s actually a game that nails the atmosphere.

I find this post to be in very poor taste, it’s not a game for the people involved and your grinning emoji is disgusting.

Oh gosh, totally didn’t mean it that way — I was just thinking about how intense and eerie the filming style was. It really pulled me in. That scene near the end actually got me emotional too.

It made me horribly aware of racist America to be honest. I honestly don't think the woman would have been treated so well if the races were swapped. Just a sad sad watch

Yes I thought that too

Yeah I felt it was a bit too personal to see that part too, to see the poor children’s raw grief and from seeing him 5 mins prior with a fleeting moment of hope. I really thought that mum was going to make it actually once they took her to hospital

I do agree to a large extent, but I also think they genuinely wanted to portray the real impact of what this did to the children.

Yes that could be true and I suppose the family would have had to give permission to show it too.

I’ve just watched it. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that ended with AJ losing her life. I imagine the kids did wind the woman up but she didn’t have the sense to ignore them so it escalated. Soon as they could see they were distressing her they probably did it all the more. Yes she shot in anger. It was through a bolted metal door. AJ couldn’t have got in.

I couldn’t believe she was taken to a hotel afterwards but then I remembered it was America and a white woman shooting a black person.

Still watching but read the comments and I’m glad she got a sentence.

When the police asked the boy if he was hurt and he said “my heart is broken” 😭. It broke my heart too.

I think, to be fair to the poster, the emoji was the gritted teeth one.

Fair enough, I still don’t agree with likening any of it to a game though that poster has apologised. I’m white, my son in law is black, I see the shite he has to endure every day, I can’t be arsed with anyone making light of this situation, even unintentionally.

It was not “an unfortunate set of circumstances”.

She antagonised the situation more than anyone, setting off her own alarm, putting up bogus signs, claiming that common areas were private, taking property belonging to the children, throwing skates at them, using the N word, telling them it wasn’t the “underground railroad”. She’s a racist piece of shit. End of.

It was unfortunate that she lived there when her tolerance levels were so low. Yes she was probably racist but that wasn’t the first thing I thought. I thought she had an intense dislike of kids but you’re probably right