New York man charged with laughing too loud
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ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY (CNN) - Robert Schiavelli, 41, was charged with disturbing the peace last month after he laughed at a neighbor he thought was looking at him in a menacing way.
"I got two appearance tickets for laughing out the window of my own house," Schiavelli said. He said he was looking out the window when he spotted the neighbor staring at him. His reaction was to laugh.
"I just kept doing it until he went away, because he kept staring at me," he said.
His neighbor called Rockville Centre police, who gave Schiavelli a summons for disturbing the peace when they heard his distinctive, high-pitched laugh for themselves.
The incident is the latest incident in a long-running feud with their neighbor, Schiavelli and his mother said. They claim the neighbor has made fun of Schiavelli, who is neurologically disabled.
His mother said the neighbor has called her son "a retard."
The Schiavellis say they will fight the summons all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
"I think it's the stupidest thing I ever heard of," Schiavelli said. "I just want to be left alone."
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