Posted on 04/29/2009 5:52:32 AM PDT by stickandrudder
SAN DIEGO -- Spencer Trussle likes to play and ride his bike.
"I'm 4 years old," he said, "and I have a sister named Olivia, and I ride my bike all day long."
He lives in a piece of suburbia that seems picturesque: the Venzano development in San Marcos. His parents, Gary and Marla Trussle, moved the family here five months ago.
"I thought it would be good for the children," Marla Trussle explained.
But instead of being welcomed, the Trussle family has been under attack, they said, by neighbors. The accusations against them have been wild, including that 4-year-old Spencer "might come out with a firearm at anytime."
"I thought they had lost their minds," said Marla Trussle.
They are neighbors Sarah Fisher, Danielle Harway and Kelly Plaster. All three filed court papers asking that Spencer, his sister Olivia, and mom and dad be restricted to their own home and driveway.
"There was nothing I had done, my husband had done, my daughter had done, or I had done that warranted that response," said Trussle.
In court papers, Sarah Fisher wrote that, "Gary Trussle is a very violent, unstable and unpredictable man." Daniele Harway said, "He looked to be on drugs." And Kelly Plaster added, "I'm concerned that Gary or his son will gain access to Gary's firearms."
Gary Trussle responded, "There was no merit in any of their allegations."
He said the trouble can be linked to a diagnosis of autism when their son was 18 months old.
"It's like a part of me died that day," Spencer's mother said. The neighbors knew about Spencer's autism, that he might throw occasional tantrums, but he isn't violent.
The Trussles said there were no issues until Gary Trussle confronted another father on the cul de sac whose son was picking on Spencer.
It didn't go well.
Sarah Fisher reported the Trussles to Child Protective Services. She called Gary Trussle's employer, Continental Airlines, where he's a captain. She also made a call to 911, claiming he couldn't control his young children.
But the San Diego sheriff's deputy who responded declined to write a report. CPS dropped the case as unsubstantiated, and Continental Airlines stood by their longtime employee.
"I'm offended that someone would try to involve my employment, my profession in this matter," Gary said.
He has one firearm that's locked up. It was issued to him by the Department of Homeland Security for his job. He's a former lieutenant colonel in the Marines, who served his country for 25 years.
I-Team reporter Lauren Reynolds approached the three neighbors to get their side of the story. Plaster and Harway darted into a house. Sarah Fisher stayed to speak with Reynolds, but said, "No thank you" when asked if she wanted to comment.
"It's a sad story," said Dr. Kathie Sweeten, who runs the Center for Autism Research, Evaluation and Service. She said autism can be devastating both emotionally and financially.
"And when you're trying to live your everyday life and come across people who are not kind to you, it's hard," said Sweeten.
The neighbors' accusations and court filings could have ruined the Trussles, but a San Diego Superior Court Judge tossed them all out. In addition, the neighbors have been ordered to reimburse the Trussle's legal fees, which top $12,000.
They should be on their knees thanking the Lord that he sent them a former Marine lieutenant colonel neighbor who knows how to use a gun and is willing to protect them.
So we have a boy with autism, a neighbor bully, and a neighbor dad who didn’t like his precious being called on his bullying.
Those neighbors sound like real doozies. Glad I don’t live near them. Arrrrggghhhh.
Nobody.... especially not several people at one time.... is going to accuse someone else of these things for no reason at all, out of the clear blue sky. I don’t believe this story.
Three Obama voters against one Republican.
Balony! What did they accuse him of?
Its possible that the neighbors just don’t know what autism is or how to deal with it.
Some people are just crazy.
GOOD!
“””Some people are just crazy.”””””
eh, could be some of that too.
>>>>Balony! What did they accuse him of?<<<<<<
“The accusations against them have been wild, including that 4-year-old Spencer “might come out with a firearm at anytime.”
“In court papers, Sarah Fisher wrote that, “Gary Trussle is a very violent, unstable and unpredictable man.””
“claiming he couldn’t control his young children.”
They are right there in the story if you read them.
“Kelly Plaster added, “I’m concerned that Gary or his son will gain access to Gary’s firearms.”
Yeah, the left is just soooo tolerant. (Okay, the story doesn’t say these “neighbors” are leftists, but you just know they are with all that gun fear and everything.)
At any given time, a parent can be accused of not controlling their children. BFD, it is part and parcel to parenting.
These 'neighbors' need to get a grip. The problems seems to be a group of liberal gun haters villifying a former Marine.
You're forgetting the tremendous irrationality of many hoplophobes. This sounds like the work of 3 suburban housewives with severe cases of hoplophobia (aggravated by way too much time on their hands), who really think nobody should have a gun in their home, and especially that nobody with children should have a gun in their home, and the idea of someone with an autistic child having a gun in their home sent them over the edge.
One of them has a kid who was picking on the autistic kid, and didn't like the father complaining about this to the bully's father. One or more of them may also have have mentioned their concern about the gun to the father at some point, and gotten the same sort of reaction from him that they would have gotten from you or me. At any rate, they (notably just the women -- apparently the husband who was at the receiving end of the complaint about the bullying didn't care to put his name on this insane court filing) decided the autistic kid's father was "a very violent, unstable and unpredictable man" (though apparently they couldn't provide even an allegation of a single incident in which he'd been violent), and when police and CPS and Continental Airlines all blew off their crazy complaints, they decided they had to go to court to avert a mass slaughter on their block.
Given that calls to 911, CPS, and Continental preceded the court filing, there was plenty of provocation for Mr. Trussle to demonstrate his "unpredictable" responses to these idiotic complaints, thus rendering the hoplophobic ladies apoplectic. I'm sure any one of us would have reacted to such calls and their fallout in a way that would cause these ladies to deem us "very violent, unstable and unpredictable". They've had their opportunity to tell their side of the story -- first to the court, which threw them out and ordered them to pay Mr. Trussle's legal expenses, and then to the media, to which they responded by fleeing into their homes (2 of them) and saying "no comment" (1 of them). I suspect these ladies are in deep doo-doo with their husbands (at least the ones who have husbands) for causing all this trouble and getting socked with the legal bills.
I hope the Trussles buy their autistic tot an arsenal of toy guns with which to drive these idiots out of the neighborhood.
Sounds like some anti-gun nuts. I’m curious how they knew that there was a firearm in the house to begin with. Personally I figure it’s none of my neighbors’ business whether or not I own a firearm.
Sure. there was a reason. We don't know what it was. It could be the neighbors are a bunch of pinko-wussies who freak out at the Thought that somebody might own a gun. I've seen people's curl in a combination of fear and contempt when my gun ownership comes up in a conversation. It's not a rational reaction.
Or since the child is apparently suffering from some form of autism, the neighbors could be having problems with being confronted frequently with the reality that some people suffer from sorrowful afflictions for what seems to be no good reason. Yeah, I'm a little uncomfortable around people with autism. The difference here is the neighbors want the victim to go away instead of facing the challenge of personal and spiritual growth and the obligation of compassion.
So yeah, there has to be a reason. But assigning a reason is not the same thing as assigning fault.
*******************
Thank goodness. I'd be putting my house on the market if I could afford it, though.
I've experienced this kind of thing first hand. I was the supervisor of a woman that just liked to have some kind of conflict going all the time. Being the supervisor (because, hey, everyone hates the boss) I was often the target of her efforts. Fortunately for me, I had the power to get rid of her, and eventually (when I saw she wasn't going to change), I did.
So yes, what is happening to this guy can certainly happen. It only takes one who wants to stir things up to get others on her "side" against you.
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