I was jumped on two occasions in that neighborhood. The other time I was carrying ice cream home from the corner store. I told them the same thing, "My dad will be angry." It worked both times.
My dad was kind of nuts at the time. He was chased by a pitbull and he turned and yelled at the dog and it stopped and wimpered home. Lucky for me every Tuesday night my dad gave his time to serve a local youth group. He is still kind of nuts. Last week he told me he pulled out a tree from his yard.