Mentally Disabled Man In Trouble For Laughing Too Loudly In His Yard

(Yahoo) — Robert Schiavelli of Rockville Center, N.Y., says he never thought laughing could get him in trouble with the law. “I was laughing out the window. I was laughing out the window of my own house, and they gave me a ticket,” Schiavelli told ABC News. Schiavelli was slapped with two summonses for disturbing the peace after police said he was laughing too loudly in his front yard. Police responded to Schiavelli’s home Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 after neighbors complained that his laughs could be heard across the driveway. Schiavelli, who is considered disabled because of neurological impairments, says the neighbors mock him, and he uses laughter as a defense mechanism. “The day my client gets convicted for laughing, I’ll quit practicing law, and I’ve been practicing for 20 years,” Andrew Campanelli told ABC News. “The ordinance and prosecution are simply absurd.” Campanelli says the ordinance grants police the right to ticket anyone who’s acting “in such a manner as to annoy, disturb, interfere with, obstruct or be offensive to others.” Each summons carries a $250 fine, and Schiavelli could face 15 days in jail.

God I’d love to meet this man and shake his hand. The neighbor who reported the retarded roarer, of course. He’s old school. A man I respect. Ya see, I’m a silent sufferer. If something annoys me I won’t say a word. I’ll never step up and be a man and say “hey knock that off, it’s really fucking annoying.” Could be anything. Could be a friend texting with his iPhone keyboard sound on, could be someone eating too loudly, could be my retarded neighbor neighbor laughing (which I’m sure sounds like a gorilla crying). But I won’t say a peep just to avoid awkward confrontation. At best maybe I’ll blog about it like a teenage girl in her diary. Not this guy though. You don’t have fun if it impedes on his. Have to respect that.