Glennwilde resident Michael Soto says he has been dealing with harassment from a “racist” neighbor for months. The first day of November brought another battle in the block war. 

Soto told InMaricopa yesterday that he was getting into his pickup truck when his neighbor drove by and threw up his middle finger. He shared home surveillance footage of the incident. 

Out of frame, Soto’s neighbor can be heard calling Soto a “w*tback.” Soto responded, “you’re a p*ssy,” and a short verbal exchange transpired before Soto followed him in his car out of the neighborhood. 

Another video sent to InMaricopa from shortly thereafter shows Soto pulling up to the corner of Porter and Honeycutt Roads, rolling down his window and calling the man a “p*ssy ass b*tch.” Soto said he took that video to capture the man’s license plate. 

Soto said he contacted Maricopa Police Department after the incident yesterday and was told he needed to go through the courts to file an injunction.  

It was not the first time he reached out to MPD about his neighbor. 

It all started with a tree 

About three years ago, a monsoon blew down a tree planted in Soto’s neighbor’s yard. The tree was not the only thing that snapped that day. 

Soto said he had gotten home from a landscaping job when his neighbor aggressively asked him what he was going to do about his fallen tree. 

“I guess he thought I’m a Mexican or a w*tback, and just because I have a yellow shirt on, I’m supposed to drop everything and freaking clean,” Soto said. He refused service altogether to his neighbor. 

February was when Soto realized things between him and his neighbor were worse than he first thought. 

Soto said he was outside working on his car when the aggressive neighbor peeled his truck into his driveway.  

“I went over to ask him what’s the matter,” Soto said. “He just started yelling and screaming, telling me that I need to go back to my effing country, that I don’t belong here and none of you w*tbacks do.” 

‘It’s been like that ever since, no matter what’ 

The verbal abuse has been a regular thing since then, Soto said. 

Soto on Tuesday shared home surveillance footage of an encounter Sept. 23 asking the community for help after the neighbor was again heard hurling racial slurs as he drove by. 

“This neighbor in Glennwilde keeps harassing us in front of our kids and won’t stop,” Soto said in the post. 

Soto in an interview said he moved to Arizona from California just a few years ago, and that he wanted advice on the laws from locals. 

InMaricopa has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for police reports regarding these incidents. 

Soto added that since his conversation with police, he has installed more cameras around his home to gather evidence. 

Soto said he is concerned about his kids’ exposure to the aggressive behavior from his neighbor, and he just wants the community to be aware there are “these kinds of people” in town. 

“He just persistently attacks, attacks, attacks, and won’t stop,” Soto said. “He makes sure when he sees me, it is a vulgar, racial slur every dang time.” 

Watch the videos here: