Dog bites and alleged squatting: South Bend residents fed up with nuisance neighbors

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Neighbors in South Bend's south side are at their wits end over what they allege are squatters on Catherwood Drive, an accusation ABC57 is working to verify.

In the meantime, those neighbors told ABC57's Annie Kate they are at their wit's end due to all the issues coming from that property.

The most recent was a dog attack Tuesday. 

Devon Farrer wasn't home Tuesday when he got a phone call.

"It's my mother-in-law saying 'you need to come home, the neighbor's dog attacked Savannah,'" he said.

That's his wife, who got bitten twice by the dog next door. 

"When I got here, the ambulance was taking her away," Farrer said. 

He called his wife a hero for keeping their 4-year-old and 5-month-old safe, saying she had just parked and was getting the children out of the car when she saw the dog jump the fence.

"Basically threw her body over my 5-month-old and did what she could to get them pretty much trapped inside the car away from the dog," Farrer said. 

Neighbors say this isn't was not a fluke.

"The biggest thing is, we knew this was going to happen," Farrer said. 

The neighbors say the home is occupied by squatters, something ABC57 is working to verify. The house's owner died four years ago, and neighbors say issues started shortly thereafter. 

"These are new squatters that come in," Farrer said. "We've had multiple, multiple overdoses, we've had domestic violence, domestic abuse... verbal harassment. Every time we come home, we're being yelled at by the neighbors."

Neighbors are fed up, they tell ABC57.

Here's Nebraska Draughter who lives on the other side of the property in question. 

"We've had trespassers, they yell at us, they're verbally aggressive, racial slurs," he said. "Multiple cars have been broken into on the block, I've had my bike stolen... burning of unpermitted items, at times there's been five-to-10-foot flames... dumping urine buckets in the backyard, causing foul odors... they flip my cameras off all the time."

Draughter sent ABC57 footage from his Ring Doorbell and security cameras that was recorded in May of this year. In the videos you can see a naked man attempt to enter Draughter's home in the middle of the night, and he can be seen walking around the home and heard saying expletives. 

"We're at our wit's end," Draughter said. "We're looking to move soon."

Neighbors have called the police over various incidents. 

"I've called 911 more times in my life the past 4 years I've been here than the other 27 years of my life, so, it's nuts. I probably call the police anywhere between two and three times a week, depending on if it's a bad week," Draughter said. 

An unmanned South Bend police squad car now sits outside the home to act as a deterrent, putting the folks inside on notice. But it can be difficult for law enforcement to get more involved without a property owner or manager calling them, unless there's some blatant crime police can respond to. 

"The city says their hands are tied, the cops say their hands are tied. So, like, what, how do we get help? We don't understand," Draughter said. 

"Something happened, we got attacked, and no results," Farrer said. 

There's not much South Bend police can do about this alleged squatting unless someone who is either a property owner, power of attorney, or some entity that manages the property reports someone living on the property who shouldn't be there.

That needs to happen, or bills need to stop being paid, for police to do more than what they are currently doing.

Still, they have community resource officers, who maintain a relationship with these neighbors and are working with them.