Threat of Violence and restraining order.

My roommates and I got into a heated argument while drinking. I said "If you don't stop talking, I'm going to smack you." I didn't posture or get in his face or say anything else. Today my roommate said he filed a police report, for a restraining order and wants me evicted. Should I be worried? Should I do anything?

Thank you for your time!

Andre McMillion said:

My roommates and I got into a heated argument while drinking. I said "If you don't stop talking, I'm going to smack you." I didn't posture or get in his face or say anything else. Today my roommate said he filed a police report, for a restraining order and wants me evicted. Should I be worried? Should I do anything?

Thank you for your time!

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Stop drinking and hire an attorney of you are served a TPO.

Andre McMillion said:

My roommates and I got into a heated argument while drinking.

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Alcoholic beverage consumption in excessive quantities often leads to verbal and physical quarrels.

Andre McMillion said:

I said "If you don't stop talking, I'm going to smack you." I didn't posture or get in his face or say anything else.

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The words that we spew out of our mouths when we're inebriated often leads to verbal and physical quarrels.

Andre McMillion said:

Today my roommate said he filed a police report, for a restraining order and wants me evicted. Should I be worried? Should I do anything?

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I don't think worrying will accomplish anything beneficial.

You could do three things:

1) STOP discussing this event with anyone except your lawyer.
2) Retain the services of a criminal defense attorney.
3) Start looking for an apartment you can afford, IF you get evicted.

Andre McMillion said:

Today my roommate said he filed a police report

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Probably not, if the details you give above are accurate. Your roommate may have spoken to a police officer but I doubt any police officer would put pen to paper over it without something more significant. The police would have most likely informed your roommate of the option to attempt to obtain a restraining order and left it at that.

If your roommate does try to get a restraining order I suspect it would not be granted without significant details.

In the unlikely event police attempt to contact you do yourself a favor and simply tell them you do not wish to provide any statement. Don't engage in any lengthy conversation.

If you are served documents for a restraining order do not ignore it and do not fail to show up to any hearing. You do not necessarily need an attorney to handle this, but it wouldn't hurt if you can afford the assistance and don't want to deal with it on your own.

Do yourself a favor and either start searching for a new place to live, or let your roommate break whatever agreement you may have and let the roommate leave.

Andre McMillion said:

Today my roommate said he filed a police report, for a restraining order and wants me evicted. Should I be worried? Should I do anything?

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"[A] police report[] for a restraining order" doesn't make much sense. Needless to say, no one here can intelligently judge the extent of worry you ought to have without first speaking to your roommate and reading the police report. Even if your sparse description of the incident is 100% accurate, that doesn't mean your roommate didn't tell a very different story to the police. Should you do anything? Yes. Stop getting drunk and acting belligerent and consider finding a new place to live.

Thank you for all of the advice guys. Yeah, I'm attempting to get consultation. I spoke with a police officer and a friend who just graduated from law school a year ago. Told them the facts and they did not believe I had any cause for worry. About two hours ago an officer called me when I was not home and said that I will be served with a TRO. I'm relatively certain that my insane roommate lied or exaggerated everything kind of like zddoodah said. Looks like I am going to be homeless for 13 days in a city where I don't know anyone, during this pandemic and with rioting going on. Great stuff.

Sorry if this is long… I'm in desperate need of advice.

Temporary restraining order and notice of injunction hearing Harassment (CIVIL)

TLDR: I am currently homeless in a new city. My male roommate filed an exaggerated/false TRO in the hopes that he can get me evicted and only share his apartment with his SO. I need help with a defense to make sure it does not become an actual restraining order.

My roommate had friends over and we were all hanging out and drinking. Sometime during the night one of his friends, a girl, added me on snapchat. During the early morning myself, the girl and my roommate (male) were all watching T.V. Them on one couch, me on the other. My cat regurgitated her food on the floor and so I got up, took care of her and went in my bedroom to go to bed. My roommates friend messages me on snapchat exactly ten times while I'm in my room. The gist of the message was 'Took too long' 'I took your couch', 'cat throw up' and the rest was gibberish messages such as 'byenye' and 'gm'. I told her she didn't throw up, she regurgitated. She replied with gibberish. She then sends me six more messages with gibberish asking if I'm peeing, saying the couch is comfy, and telling me to sleep by my roommate. I told her my cat needs me. She says ok, take care of her, sing to her, the couch is hers, mine. I told her "you cuddle with him, I can't cuddle with you on the couch haha" and apparently her drunk mind read it as me wanting to cuddle wit her? She says "You can cuddle with him, tf. Not me. Me couch" in four separate messages. I respond simply with "my couch". At this point my roommate is in his bedroom evidently because she sends six messages saying, 'you other couch' "me couch' "yiu have whole bed' 'you let' 'free real estate'. I only respond with lmao. She responds with 'omg' 'go to sleep'. I tell her that I can hear her (because she's outside my door) and I'm already going to bed. She says my roommate is asleep and I that she has a knife. Idk what went through my mind at that point, I had been drinking too but I said 'I'm glad you have a man and a knife. I respect that. You can sleep over in my room if you want, that's fine.' She then tells me that she has a knife again. So, I open the door and come out and ask her why she keeps telling me she has a knife. I'm not trying to get stabbed. She tells me because she thinks I'm going to rape her? That upsets me a lot because I was falsely accused of sexual assault during undergrad and have known people who were kicked out of school just for being accused, not even charged. It evolves into a shouting match and I want her to leave. My roommates come out and I tell them what happened, and they side with her for some reason. The argument goes on for an hour. At some point my roommate keeps talking over me and I say, 'Keep talking over me and I'm going to smack you". Some point after he puts his hand near me, and I slap it away. He doesn't even say owe. Not even a scratch to him. Shortly after we all go to bed. We did not speak for a day. Then one day he knocks on my door and says they want to talk, and I told them that I have nothing to say to them. He tells me that he is going to get me evicted for a threat of violence and get a restraining order against me too. The next day I get a TRO with the statement of the incident on their that a family friend attorney coached him to write that says. My roommate "threatened me with violence by saying "I'm going to smack you" and shortly after smacked my hand as I spoke. He states that he was talking to me about my behavior and intimidating his guest. He then states that he is scared of living in the apartment. AND THEN he says there is a pattern of abuse against my cat which I love with all my heart. He states that I yell, kick, and hit her and that he is afraid that if I return, he is afraid that in retaliation I will abuse his cats?


I have the screenshots of the messages she sent talking about the knife.

I felt threatened that a stranger in my home was repeatedly telling me she had a knife and so I asked her why and says she was scared. I'm not the one with the knife, nor did I say anything threatening to her.

I literally slapped his hand when it was in my personal space.

Him and his partner have separated twice since we moved in. It is a two bedroom, so, when they split, we talk about one of them moving out but neither want to. Both times he has said things along the lines of 'I spoke with so and so and I should make them give me a bunch of money and make a cushy situation for myself.' He says this because his partners mom is the guarantor and she would have to pay either way. He basically tries to get as much out of them as much money out of them as he can or else he wouldn't leave so, they end up back together.

He blames me for their relationship problems because his partner would confide in me about their issues.

He has stated on multiple occasions that he is pissed at his partner because they had a 1BR in the same complex but they didn't sign fast enough and so had to find a 2BR with me, a random.

In the police report he states that we were arguing because the girl wouldn't go to my room. That is a blatant lie. Again, I have the messages. They do not know I have the messages. I screenshotted them all and not even 5 seconds later I was blocked. I got lucky. She probably didn't remember they were there.

I do not abuse my cat. I have raised my cat since she was a kitten. She loves me to death. I raise my voice at her because that how we have always communicated when she's scratching something she's not supposed to. She does not fear me, she sleeps with me every night. Follows me everywhere. Purrs constantly when I'm around. I scruff her and support her with my other hand, that is what is used to and it doesn't bother or upset her. Sometimes I flick her, again, it doesn't hurt her, we have always done that as a form of play. I do not kick my cat. My cat was just at the vet a few months ago. Not a scratch on her. Never has been a scratch on her.

I suspect that he saw this as an opportunity for him and his partner to have the place to themselves like they always wanted. There is no other reason that. He has said to me on multiple occasions that he thinks his partner is scared of me but that he is not. I didn't injure him. I do not believe that I harassed him because I had legitimate purpose to slap his hand (he was gesticulating in my face). His guest kept telling me she had a knife. What other purpose could that have other than to intimidate or scare me in my own home. Of course, I am going to be upset by that and to have it topped off with she thought I was going to assault her? Bringing the cats into it when we have had the conversation multiple times "I discipline my cat this way, it doesn't hurt her, and you can clearly see that. We have always communicated this way and if she didn't like it, then she would be terrified of me and or injured. I don't care if you think its mean. I will not touch your cats, don't tell me how to raise mine'. They even laugh when I flick her in the butt or yell "HEY WHAT YOU DOIN ON THE COUNTER GIRL!".

They also marked that I had a knife in my room. It's a damn swiss army knife…

Any tips for a defense here? He blatantly misused a TRO to get me out until the hearing and said "I'm going to get you evicted. Someone with authority needs to teach you a lesson that you can't just slap someone's hands.

I've contacted a quite a few attorneys but there aren't any pro-bono ones for respondents. I've gotten some consultations but obviously they want me to pay thousands of dollars. However, they all say "I have a formulate for a defense on this one". They need to feed their families too so, I can't be upset that they don't give out free services.

Please keep all related topics to one thread. Thank You.

Threat of Violence and restraining order.

Andre McMillion said:

I need help with a defense to make sure it does not become an actual restraining order.

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Show up. Be calm and organized. Tell the truth. Explain to the judge why the restraining order is unnecessary- roommate is free to leave if uncomfortable.