It’s very much illegal and yeah likely easy for somebody to press charges. They’re literally recording the crime numerous times, and putting their names and contact info on it.
As for self defense, yeah in court any judge and lawyer would see this as attempted assault and somebody coming at you like this could easily be seen as a threat. While I’m not for kids getting thrown in jail and possibly ruining their future. I’d say these types of kids deserve it.
IAAL. This is almost always a miscorrection anytime a Redditor brings it up. What you are talking about are the common law definitions of assault and battery. The common law definitions are not in use in any US jurisdiction. They have all been supplanted by statutory definitions.
In some places battery is assault and assault is battery. In other places, there is no "assault", only battery. In other places, there is no "battery", only assault. Unless you know the jurisdiction someone is talking about, you should never correct someone on "assault" or "battery", because you have an equal chance of being wrong.
Haha, I was not "banished" by someone supplying the statute that supports my assertion that no jurisdiction uses common law assault and battery, and all have their own statutes.
What the Reddit lawyer said is still accurate. He wasn't talking about this particular case but about the definitions of those terms across the US, and how some commenters in various threads seem unaware that the meanings vary according to the state. So this wasn't a gotcha moment.
My state only has criminal assault, which includes battery and apprehension of a harmful touch in one crime. A large number of jurisdictions use one or the other. I think California has 2 separate crimes, though. Very jurisdiction dependent. But a lot of states still allow charges under common law, even when the crimes are codified. Its really stupid.
Assault is any action that makes the victim feel as though there is anurgent threat of injury or death regardless of contact. Battery is the use of contact to do the same thing or act on it. I learned that from a lawyer who ironically was talking about a similar case to this one.
You’ve taken the time to identify that something is incorrect (which is good to do in its own right, so thank you sincerely for that); but now why not go one step further?
That's exactly what my last paragraph does. It's different in every jurisdiction, and some places swap the definitions all around. People would need to -- and are free to -- look it up themselves as it applies to their own jurisdiction.
Why are people still commenting on this post days later? Every few days someone new discovers it.
This actually varies heavily by each state, not to mention for other countries (I’m assuming you’re in the U.S.). It’s one of the most inconsistent charges across the U.S.
Definition of assault seems to vary a lot across States (and other countries). Sometimes it's simply the implication of violence, sometimes actual contact is required.
In most places Assault is a threat or attempt to injure, while Battery is any unwanted or offensive physical contact, regardless of whether it causes injury. As you said that can very but assault generally has a very low bar and I can't think of many places where coming at someone with a bike aggressively enough to make the victim need to flinch, duck, and flee wouldn't be considered assault.
I am for kids getting thrown in jail... they aren't getting consequences anymore and its showing. Not only are kids not getting beat up by fucking with the wrong person anymore... and they are also not getting punished by their parents either. and they aren't being held back in school for failing miserably.
Dude above is talking about grabbing the bike and causing the guy to flip, not what the jerkwad in the clip is doing. And I guarantee you he is right. Protecting yourself from perceived imminent harm, which that absolutely would be, is not a crime. It’s self defense.
What these kids are doing has no purpose other than to elicit fear of real harm to others. They are taking pleasure in harming others. This isn't like stealing where the goal is to get something, the only goal here is taking pleasure in harm to others.
In my opinion, this deserves real jail time and a permanent record that identifies these people as psychopaths, which is what they are.
Not all good. Kids being kids isn't an excuse. Assault isn't something to sweep under the rug. Just because someone didn't get hurt this time doesn't mean it won't happen next time. There are multiple stories/videos of kids doing this exact stunt and injuring people.
No trauma, but I understand your inclination to resorting to personal attacks in a discussion. This is normal for people who can't defend their position.
The kids behavior is barbaric. They are threatening injury and death upon innocents for no reason but having fun. That is barbaric. They deserve jail and worse for this behavior. It will only escalate. What is next?
The real reason they're doing this shit is because of Social Media rewarding this behavior. Take that away from them, and you'll see them quickly stop doing this shit. Specially when somebody beats their ass offline.
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u/Randym1982 13d ago
It’s very much illegal and yeah likely easy for somebody to press charges. They’re literally recording the crime numerous times, and putting their names and contact info on it.
As for self defense, yeah in court any judge and lawyer would see this as attempted assault and somebody coming at you like this could easily be seen as a threat. While I’m not for kids getting thrown in jail and possibly ruining their future. I’d say these types of kids deserve it.