Police: Rock Hill Man Peeped Into Neighbor’s Home

A Rock Hill woman said she thought her cat was scratching at her bedroom window trying to get in on Friday night, but neighbors saw something different.

They said they saw a man on her porch, staring through her window.

"It was enough to scare me, and I was really scared," said victim Darlene Banks, who lives in a condo on Willowbrook Avenue.

She said one neighbor called police, and a second one walked over and told her what she saw.

"My neighbor came over and told me that she'd seen him standing on top of the picnic table, looking into my window,” Banks said.

The blinds on Banks' bedroom window are bent in one small area, and she said that's how she thinks he was watching her.

Rock Hill police tried to question 57-year-old Bruce Suttles, who was staying in a home next door to Banks’ house.

Police reports said Suttles slammed the door in officers’ faces, then refused to talk to them. Eventually, he was arrested and charged with voyeurism.

Banks said Suttles was staying with another man next door, but that he had only been there a few days. She added that he made her uncomfortable on several occasions.

“He'd see me coming home and ask me if I needed any work done in my house. I'd tell him, ‘No, I don't need anything from you,’" she said. “He also asked me if I needed food stamps, or food. I just thought he was being overly nice.”

Banks said after Suttles was arrested, she still couldn't sleep. She was so afraid, she said, she kept a large knife by her bed at night for protection. She didn't put the knife away until Monday morning, but said she is still frightened.

“Every time I hear a noise, I'm jumping," she said.

Marvin Springs, the neighbor Suttles was staying with, said he was allowing him to stay there because he was evicted from his apartment. He said he'd told Suttles before not to look in his neighbor's window.

"I just wanted the police to get him on out of here," Springs said. "I told him he couldn't stay here if he was going to do something like that."