u/newfiechik

For context, I’m 40 years old (f) and live in a retirement community. It wasn’t converted into one until after I bought my home. My partner (m40), let’s call him Bert, briefly worked in our small town grocery store with our neighbour (m65) let’s call him Ernie, and they got along great. I myself knew him for ten years before this, and got along fine as well.

Ernie’s history: he’s a veteran who has seen combat, has been widowed twice, and hasn’t had a sober day in at least the decade that I’ve known him. I myself am widowed, so like my neighbours, took pity on him when he was black out intoxicated in our shared spaces like our community pool.

He had a history of intoxicated driving. In April of this year (2026) he was arrested for drunk driving when he entered our gated community and the wheel literally fell off of his vehicle. Witnesses said when he got out, he couldn’t walk straight or talk property. He was later arrested, keeping in mind I did not witness this or had seen him at all in the week leading up to this incident.

Someone told him that I was the one who reported him.

In the following weeks, he made my life hell. All of a sudden, he’s walking past my mother’s home (she lives there too) where I spend my early mornings before work having a coffee in her gazebo, uttering awful threats to my life and my mothers.

Finally after four weeks, I was able to catch it on video and brought it straight to police. He was then charged with criminal harassment and uttering death threats on top of his existing charges and we (both my mom and I) were issued restraining orders against him.

We just received word that he attempted to self eliminate last night and is in the ICU not expected to survive. Some of my neighbours think it’s my fault for having him charged.

Additional context: my daughter
And her partner were killed about eight years ago because they were hit my a car, if I had witnessed him intoxicated while driving, I most certainly would have called the police myself.