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.

🙏

She was defo racist because she admitted to calling the kids the N word.

i think she was mentally unwell though (no excuse for anything she did) and she mentioned some medication . Like watching how she just switched when they wanted to charge her. That’s the kind of behaviour but amplified that the kids had to endure.
I have no doubt the kids provoked her and wound her up and I felt for her in that sense. But she made the situation worse by fabricating issues, taking things, name calling and calling the police every ( seconds. I guess the situation became toxic and needed some sort of intervention.

the kids weren’t bad kids, just normal kids and it was truly heartbreaking watching them having to witness that and how devastated they were.

I have just watched if and I was really surprised that she wasn't immediately arrested. I think she was mentally unwell and believed she was being harassed. I also think she shot out of anger rather than fear and the timeline of the calls showed that.

The bit where the children were told was heart breaking. I couldn't believe the change in her from date of arrest to court date.

There's absolutely no way if I was on the jury that I would have anything other than reasonable doubt. Dh on the other hand thought she got what she deserved.

How on earth would you award reasonable doubt?
I'm with your hubby…

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.

I agree with the above.

I haven't finished it but after one visit (the dog and truck) one officer did seem to be trying to diffuse the situation. At the end of the day he needed to be de escalated as it's too dangerous when guns are involved.

the situation not he

When the officer asked the son if he was hurt and he replied, No, but my heart is broken. Ugh.

What could possibly have given you reasonable doubt?

Just as well you weren’t on the jury then, eh? Otherwise no justice for AJ.

I’ve just finished this.

I think she has a personality disorder. Even after she shot a woman, in her call to 911 you could hear the energy and almost excitement in her ramp up when she got to talk about how awful the kids were again.

she was a racist, and mentally ill. Although I do guess personality disorder what i was a little confused about is I would imagine in the uk the police would’ve found a way to support or contain her- either with identifying her need for MH support or getting an anti social order against her to keep her away from the kids (and most of the officers who attended immediately identified how unfair she was to the kids) it seems less joined up there- I guess with privatised healthcare the onus is on you to access medical support, even if your needs piss everyone else off?!

i though the portrayal of the police was surprising - seemingly non racist (or not behaving in a racist way on a white on black situation) reasonable, supportive and level headed. Not a side you often see of American police. But also, clearly grappling with confused and hard to navigate laws (stand your ground)

the irony was those kids appeared lovely- the wholesomeness of playing out, the way they would spell out swear words to the police officers, they way they automatically turned to the police for help. My heart broke for their dad too.

If she was mentally unwell with a personality disorder it might’ve been more about the attention she was getting from being the victim.

I was also shocked at her not being immediately arrested (and indeed, remanded) but my understanding is this may not be about race per sae but that I believe arresting someone is a much more serious legal situation in America than it is in the uk- more similar to being charged. So people don’t tend to stay on bail whilst the investigation happens.

I was also quite surprised she was charged immediately with manslaughter rather than murder although since she got 25 years anyway, maybe the point to that was it has a lower burden of proof for the same punishment

I watched this yesterday and was also sobbing when the kids were told about their mum.
I don’t believe she was mentally ill. I think she was a racist, angry woman who just wanted to cause a drama and be perceived as the victim. I think she got what she deserved (aside from not being arrested immediately! What were they thinking??). Not sure how anyone could think reasonable doubt when the jury of 6 all white people found her guilty.

Good post. I completely agree about her 911 call. She went from shaky, crying victim to angry social justice warrior in a nanosecond.

When she wrote that letter I genuinely thought she was going to write something like “I’m sorry your mum is dead but you were so noisy you made me” she was that self obsessed

it was so harrowing, the lead up to it knowing what was about to happen was almost unbearable. Those poor children.

It wasn’t much better tbf “I thought your mom was going to kill me”? Not much better for the poor kids to read. I hope the police had the sense not to actually pass it along, it was clearly an attempt for her to cement her story.

I very rarely cry at anything on TV I'm almost completely emotionless to it... but this? From the door camera until seeing Susan in the back of the car again I was sobbing.

Absolutely shocking and she should've been under lock and key until trial. Can't believe she was allowed back to the quad or anything.

I cried so much when the Dad was breaking the news to the kids. Heartbreaking.

It was one of the most harrowing scenes I’ve seen in those kind of documentaries. I was really hoping AJ was going to make it and then when she passed, my heart just broke for the kids and the dad having to give the news. Also to AJ’s mum.

He was amazing though. I was wondering wth he was going to say and kept thinking I would drive them home and maybe wait hours until I’d worked out what to do. To have the presence to start with “we love each other we love mum and you have been through an incredibly traumatic day” was really impressive imo

Also made me so sad when they said the poor kid blamed himself because he thought if he hadnt left his iPad there his mum would still be alive

It was heartbreaking, I kept thinking why didn't they take the poor kids somewhere more private and with someone who could help them not their poor grieving father who just arrived and hadn't time to process anything. When the murderer was in the interrogation room refusing to go get fingerprinted and photographed I could tell she thought she could get away with it .

I also think she seemed angry rather than frightened, the 911 call where she went very quickly from whimpering with fright to angrily swearing was very revealing. The kids didn't seem feral to me but I'm sure she did made herself a target because of her behaviour.

The treatment of Susan after the shooting seemed excessively lenient given what she had done.

There used to be a diagnosis called paraphrenia when I was training as a mental nurse in the 90's. It affects people mainly in late middle age and is a bit like schizophrenia but less personality deterioration. You don't really see it anymore but this lady reminded me of it.