Be careful the next time you communicate harshly with someone more than once.
If that someone is “alarmed” by your negative spoken words, letters, e-mails or other conveyances, you could become the respondent in a civil stalking protective order, face possible criminal charges and be legally barred from any further contact with the complainant.
No lie.
It used to be that you had to physically threaten someone to get the treatment once reserved for antagonists in domestic-violence cases.
No more.
Hounded by individuals and organizations after a starlet was killed by a deranged stalker in Los Angeles, state legislatures across America have run roughshod over constitutional liberties in their quest to protect any alleged victims of harassment.
And police will lean over backwards to support the complainant’s version of events because the establishment would be blamed if something happened to the complainant. (19 SEPTEMBER 2004)
