A 63-year-old man on Claudia Drive in Brook Park was handed a court summons on Oct. 15 after letting a loud alarm blast inside his house for more than 10 straight hours. The noise reportedly ran through the night and into the next evening before a neighbor finally called police, who say the racket could be heard four houses down the block.
According to cleveland.com, the neighbor complained to police at about 6:30 p.m., saying the alarm had been sounding since 10 p.m. the previous night. By the time officers arrived, the alarm was still going, and police determined the noise could be heard at least four houses away.
Resident Reportedly Cranked the Volume on Officers
Rather than cooperate, the man did not answer when police knocked on his door and instead closed all the window blinds, the outlet reports. Police say he then turned up the alarm noise, seemingly to taunt the officers standing outside.
The standoff eventually led to a summons sent to the man through certified mail, charging him with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. Brook Park's municipal code, under Ordinance 509.11(a), prohibits unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noises that disturb the city's peace and quiet. The same ordinance lays out escalating penalties — a first offense is a fourth-degree misdemeanor, a second bumps up to a third-degree misdemeanor, and any further violations become first-degree misdemeanors.
Not His First Run-In With Police
Police reportedly already knew the man from past incidents before this one. Per the report, he once tried to break into Brook Park City Hall to confront Mayor Edward Orcutt — a run-in that apparently left officers familiar with him well before the alarm call came in.
The alarm incident is the latest entry in what the report describes as a pattern of disruptive behavior from the Claudia Drive address, now drawing formal charges under the city's noise ordinance. It remains unclear how the case will be resolved in court.
