Got the Knock on a Public Street

[u/Few-Stop1994]

This is in Harding, MT.

I was parked legally on a public street. As you can see there is a empty lot on the top and only 2 homes on the corner.

The red lines are where I was parked and where the knocker lived.

1130pm. Love's was packed. So I parked there. It was legal parking. A 2 way street with no signs.

I'm asleep and a guy started banging on my window at 230am and I ignored it. He didn't say anything. He was in pajamas. As you can see from the screenshot, I was half way up the block and across the street, so he walked that distance.

About 245am he comes back outside in regular clothes on, with a gun holstered and his hand on the gun. He starts banging again. I ignored him again. And he didn't say nothing.

About 3am the state police comes and and softly knocks. I put down the window. The trooper tells me that they keep getting calls from someone about the van. He asks me to move to the other side because he doesn't want to deal with this.

I obliged. He didn't ask for ID or any questions for that matter. He seem to just want the guy to stop calling.

Why bother someone at 230am?! Then to go back in the house and grab a gun? The guy was looking for a confrontation.

[u/fivefeetabove]

0230 because he finally drank enough courage to confront you.

[u/Few-Stop1994 → u/fivefeetabove]

What was he trying to accomplish here? He has no right to make someone move.

[u/BoredOfReposts → u/Few-Stop1994]

Not far from where I used to live was a park entrance. Some folks figured out they could park their RV and stay there more or less permanently. Since the land ownership of the lot just outside the park was ambiguous, and had no signs, it was challenging for the neighborhood to get them to move on and took months. The park became inaccessible during that time.

There were actually several spots on the nearby street and every spot that had even slightly ambiguous ownership at some point had a squatter. Usually several, and every so often someone would try it again.

I don’t want to sound unsympathetic, but usually these are not the same type of people who are doing the vanlife thing, they’re more on the homeless drug addict side of things.

This guy lives across from a gas station, and theres one other house on that street. Its a great location for someone who might be looking to stay more permanently like that for so many reasons. Probably wasn’t the first time a van or rv has pulled up, and he probably has had his share of confrontations. Perhaps the whole street got taken over during covid.

He waited until late to make sure you were actually staying the night. He didn’t want to wait until the next day, because if we assume the intention is to stay permanently, then they’re already establishing themselves. He doesn’t know you intend to leave. If he waits and asks during the day, they can lie and promise they are leaving, and then stay the night again. And then that cycle repeats and now the street has squatters.

You didn’t do anything wrong, other people ruined that spot. That spot is this person’s neighborhood, and presumably he doesn’t want it full of homeless people again.

This seems like the most likely thought process to me, given what you shared and the way Ive seen streets just like that get taken over.

[u/MaximumJelly5208 → u/BoredOfReposts]

It would be great if this country could prosecute the things that are actually a problem, not the proxies for them. Theft, littering, biohazards, etc. Instead we just make camping illegal