Was it reasonable for this guy to follow and chase after me? Am I a coward?

I often like to take walks after dinner. My walking routine includes walking around streets and cul de sacs in my suburban neighborhood while on public way. I’ve had three incidents in the past with a guy in his twenties with tattoos on both arms and black plug earrings. The guy was probably around the age of 23-25 and most likely still lives with his parents. The guy pretty much looks like your stereotypical emo goth.

First time it happened I was just about to walk out of a cul de sac I had walked into. All of a sudden a car was speeding towards my way and slowed down. The windows rolled down and the tattoo guy stuck out his head. He stared at me and flared his nostrils at me as if he was really pissed off at me. As I walked away, he drove away. However I noticed he turned into one of the cul de sac houses. I decided to walk over to that house hoping to have a talk with him, I thought what he did was very rude. If he had a problem with me he should have said something instead of staring at me and flaring his nostrils at me. When I got there he was waiting for me. He said to me “Hi I see you” in a baby mock voice and flashed a laser pointer into my eyes. He wasn’t going to talk to me, so I turned and walked away.

Second time I walked elsewhere. Everything seemed fine until 7 p.m. I noticed him following me on his bike. I began walking at a faster pace to lose him. I eventually jogged to a local elementary school and hide in the bushes hoping he would lose interest if he can’t find me to follow around. Unfortunately he rode his bike to a hill on the playground and spotted me. I moved to the left and right behind the bushes and he mimicked my movement on his bike. I was going to run up and attack the creep. I wasn’t sure if he had a weapon or not, and I wasn’t going to take my chances. There was a fence behind me and I jumped over it and ran to a dry creek bed. He got off his bike and ran after me. This guy wasn’t going to leave me alone no matter how much of a distance I try to create. So I turned around and in an indignant voice I yelled at him “What do you want from me?” The guy said “Come here” I told him “No!” He then said “I know where you live little boy” “Ahahaha”. And then he turned around and walked away.

A month later I walked straight past the entry of the cul de sac but not into it. All of a sudden I hear loud footsteps behind me. “Hey”. I turned around and it was the guy again. He walked closer to me and then stopped and kept a distance from me. He crossed his arms to his chest and then peered over my left shoulder to make sure there was no one else in the area to hear the conversation. He then said to me “Why are you always walking around my f****** place?” I told him I like to talk walks. He then said to me “I don’t know I don’t believe you, I always see you walk around my place and it seems I don’t know just peculiar”. I told him “You followed me around, I don’t know what you want” I also told him “I’m just walking, I swear.” He then said “Alright WALK” in a reluctant tone and let me go.

I was able to find his profile on a social networking website. I asked him why he chose to do what he did and if was trying to tempt me to fight.
He sent me a message to me saying.
"Little squirt, fighting was never an option, I'd have smacked that smirk off your face two times. Next time youre in the middle of the road when I come by get the hell out of the road, yeah I looked at you, I've got places to be and don't have time to stand in the middle of the road looking smug. Better keep hiding in the bushes, I see you again you go back into the bushes or else. Each time you walk watch for a bush to hide in if you see me coming."

Were any of his actions reasonable? Am I a coward for running instead of fighting? I left plenty of room for him (I walked on the very far side), I was not in the middle of the road, he had plenty of room to drive by my side and "look" at me. If he needed more room or clear away he could have nicely asked me!?!?! My neighborhood has no sidewalk and plenty of people walk on the far side. And I never looked at him with a smirk or walked looking smug. I stood to the side and waited for him to drive away, if it wasn't enough he could have told me, I thought he was going to say something so I stared at him back.

I didn't really feel comfortable with either of your poll choices. The guy is certainly trouble and the lesson to be learned is there are always people like this out there and it is best to just stay away from them.

You followed him to the house "to have a talk with him" because you thought he had acted rude. Why? What did you expect to come of this interaction with an obviously rude person except confrontation? Did you expect a rude person to say, "Wow. You're right. That was rude and I'm very sorry." That doesn't happen. You went looking for confrontation but got more than you bargained for and you bolted. At that point, he knew he could intimidate you and is now sadistically taking advantage of it.

You found him on a social networking site? How? Why? That was a little weird. Further provocation you should have avoided. Now he certainly feels engaged.

Either stand your ground with him and accept possible further escalation or steer clear. People like that don't usually stay in one place long. Hopefully, he'll wear out his welcome where he is and move on.

Good luck.

I've already answered in your other post but short and to the point... he had no reasonable right to do any of that and no you are not a coward.

bighands couldn't of answered your question any better. Get some counseling and avoid putting yourself in a situation that is only going to instigate it.For example contacting him again. Burplekush