A Georgia man has shared footage of the extraordinary moment his family received a knock at the door from police officers responding to a complaint about his kids using a trampoline in the backyard.
Albert Kaskie and his wife, Carolina, regularly post videos to TikTok and Instagram under the handle @kaskiefamily. The clips tend to showcase the hilarious and often chaotic of their lives as the parents of five girls ages from 12 right down to 1.
However, some of their more recent videos have been anything but a laughing matter, because this latest call about their kids using the trampoline one afternoon is far from an isolated incident. In fact, Kaskie and his family have been dealing with complaints like this for three years now.
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Kaskie told Newsweek: "The first time was just a 'what the hell just happened' moment. She [his neighbor] actually called the police on kids. Every time since, it's just 'here we go again.'"
Neighborly disputes are common enough. A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Homes.com found 36 percent of respondents had suffered issues with neighbors that had escalated into full-blown arguments. Some 25 percent were even embroiled long-running feuds with someone next door.
However, Kaskie's is an extreme case. It dates all the way back to 2021 when they first began receiving complaints from one specific set of neighbors, who shall remain nameless, regarding the noise their kids were making in the backyard during the day.
"We would bring the girls inside every time," Kaskie said. "One day, she said something like, 'Take care of your children. They are your responsibility. They sound like they are in pain.'"
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That proved to be the final straw, with Kaskie and his wife deciding they were through with accommodating their neighbor's extreme demands, telling them to "call the police if you have issues."
That is exactly what their neighbors have done since spring of this year. Kaskie doesn't know all that much about his unhappy neighbors other than that they are a couple in their forties with a daughter of their own. He said the husband has texted and even come over "apologizing" and asking them to help him out by keeping the noise down.
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However, Kaskie said their neighbors on the other side who are older and members of the local Homeowners Association have said "they can't hear anything."
"I am sure the kids are loud," Kaskie said. "If there are screams, I would equate it to getting sprayed with water. Coupled with laughter, it is completely different from the screams she has been reporting."
Things have already turned ugly. Kaskie said they ended up calling the police on the woman next door after she allegedly told their kids to "shut the f*** up." In response, she called 911, complaining of a "panic attack," which prompted a fire truck and ambulance to arrive.
Having started out by calling the police over noise complaints, Kaskie said the police officers have informed their neighbors it is a "civil issue" that they can do little about. As a result, her calls have now become "welfare checks." That is what he captured on the clip, with police officers on the video saying that they "got a call about kids screaming."
It is a situation that has left many watching the video on social media stunned. "So sad that children are not allowed to be children in their own house," one viewer wrote. "What is this world coming to."
"What a waste of public resources," a second added, with a third writing: "What is wrong with people they are kids they play and they scream I don't get it!"
Kaskie said the situation is made all the more baffling by the fact they live across the street from a community pool and basketball court, while an elementary school is also nearby.
"Why live here if you want quiet. We live near rural areas with plenty of land. Why here?" Kaskie added. "We picked this house because of all the kids playing outside during the open house."
Some have said the family should take legal action. Kaskie doesn't want to go down that route, but the situation is starting to impact their kids. "The other day when going outside, our 4-year-old said: 'but, mommy, if we go outside, will the police come?'
"We want to be accommodating, but we are not going to stop normal behavior from our kids. We tell them to lower the volume sometimes, too, but to be honest, from within my own house, I can barely hear them, so I have zero clue how it could be so disruptive."
Sadly, this might not be the last time the Kaskies get a knock on the door from the police.
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