Neighbors Concerned After Autistic Man Attacks OKC Teen

An Edmond neighborhood is at their wits end after a teen was attacked by a fellow neighbor.

According to residents, the teen was scratched and choked until good Samaritans and a neighbor stepped in.

“She was saying, 'Help me, help me,'” neighbor Linda Oldland said.

Linda Oldland was inside her home washing dishes when she heard a commotion at her front door. Her surveillance camera captured the struggle taking place on her front doorstep.

"I saw my 18-year-old neighbor on the porch with a man who had his hands around her neck," Oldland said.

Oldland said that's when she opened her door, hoping to pull the girl to safety. 

“It just freaked me out. I thought he was going to kill her,” Oldland said.

In her effort to help, Oldland said the man grabbed her arm, and then her door trying to force his way into her home.

“I closed the door on his hand, so he finally let go, I locked the door and screamed I’m going to sick my dogs on you,” Oldland said.

She then called 911 and later learned the man was her non-verbal neighbor who suffers from autism and lives with his mother. She said he's terrorized the neighborhood since he was a young teen.

Oldland said while she and her neighbors don't want him arrested, they want to know they're safe in their own homes.

“I think he needs some kind of care and I don’t think she can do it at home by herself,” Oldland said.

She said following Tuesday's attack the man's mother retrieved him and apologized. But because she wouldn’t answer the door for police an arrest was not made.

“I can understand how she might want him to be home with her, but I think since he’s older now, it’s too hard to handle by herself,” Oldland said.