Would it be lame to file assault charges against someone?

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If they pushed you.

This is a scenario from my past.

I had a roommate that was a NT ret*d who bullied everyone (including his so called friends). It was just his personality. He was a pretty big guy.

Any way, I was was paying him rent and was in a lease. He pulled that NT ret*d thing where they stand one inch from you and when you try and go around him, he forces you to make contact with him justifying allowing him to push you or whatever.

He did this a couple of times and made me feel uncomfortable and I seriously thought about filing assault charges against him. By law, even threating someone is assault. You don't even need to touch someone.

There was no justification for his behavior. Would it have been lame to file assault charges against him?

No. Not at all. But now it most likely would be pointless, depending on how long ago it was.

Not going to do it now. Was talking about then.

Yes it is lame to file assault charges over something like that. Go punch him or something.

For a push? Damn dude... Assault charges can carry some pretty stiff penalties, and I don't mean to sound harsh but it's pretty weak to put someone up against the law just because you can't take care of business on your own.

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't file assault on someone unless the punishment fit the crime, which in my eyes would basically entail me being hospitalized because of it.

Over what? For nothing? This guy was a ret*d who had nothing to lose but his self respect.

Not to mention he was a lot bigger than me.

Not to mention, I had to have surgery for a broken nose in the past and can have major problems if I had another one.

That's exactly why it's lame to file charges over something that little. You can't handle your own business, and you're too scared to do anything about it. If you're afraid to fight, then you should at least get some Krav Maga lessons (Or thai boxing + brazillian jujutsu if that's not available).

if this would happen more times i think its not lame at all to file charges, but if it was just this one time then its better to just let it go.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Could you file assault charges? Well, what you can do is take it to your local police station, if something like this happens again, and tell them. Sad to say, chances are, they won't do anything unless you have bruises or have been to the emergency room with injuries. Doesn't mean it's annoying when stuff like that happens, and weird too.

Cops won't file charges because they believe friends will make up and want to put the incident behind them and since this type of thing happens all the time, really, not much can be done about petty things.

If this friend is abusive and behaves in a disrespectful way on a regular basis my advice to you is either talk to him about it, tell him if he doesn't quit you will have no choice but to end the friendship and if he doesn't stop end the friendship, or just avoid him if you don't feel like having a confrontation. Remember, it takes two people for these kinds of incidents to occur, you and another person. If you aren't around that person, these kinds of things will not happen. It's not easy but if this is a chronic situation, sometimes there aren't any alternatives unless you feel like putting up with it or you can get him to be nicer but a lot of times, in their own minds they have justified the bullying and often don't feel they have to stop.

Respect is the most important thing and this kind of treatment from others eats away at one's self esteem. I put up with this type of bs for so long and one of the smartest things I've ever done, and most difficult, is seperate myself from it, thinking, I am not putting up with this type of treatment any longer I am going to make a stand for myself and have the inner strength and dignity not to mention respect for myself to not put up with it. I am not an object or a door mat without feelings.

My advice to you is: stand up for yourself, empower yourself, put your well being first and foremost at all times. You will feel so much better later.

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 25 Apr 2009, 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

really what should he have done starting to push back ?, it would probably have ended up in a fight and 90% of the time the bigger guy wins (if its untrained people) so dont tell him he cant handle his business it would just be really stupid to start a fight.

This is the same guy who at his bachelor party got drunk, couldn't hold his liquor, and was slapping his friends in the face (not me though). I was never his friend, just a roommate.

And like I said, had nothing to lose but his self respect.

There are some people who you just don't get into altercations with.

Of course they will. If someone breaks the law, they have to. You don't even have to touch someone for it to be assault.

What world are you living in?

Avoid the legal 'system' whenever possible....no good comes of it.

.

If a cop radar guns someone going 2mph over the speed limit (which, by definition, is breaking the law), do they "have to" give them a speeding ticket? Because this instance you speak of is the assault equivalent of that. I'm sure it happens, but more often than not it's a total waste of their time.

Apples to oranges.

If by law assault occured, and a person wants to press charges, then the officer has to file charges.

Where I live they wouldn't. When I read posts on here it seems this part of the country is different from other parts, in ways that aren't so great and it's not just me having a bias based on past traumas or my imagination. If I went to the police with a complaint that someone got in my face and wouldn't let me pass they would, first, demand proof. If I didn't have it they would say "well it would be just your word against theirs." or, "you need witnesses or there's nothing we can do." They really don't care about this sort of thing around here. Not at all.
You cannot get cops to do much. If something gets stolen they say "there isn't much hope of getting your stuff back, not much we can do." Most of the time it seems like they say "not much we can do" or "no law has been broken," "they didn't do anything wrong" "what she did isn't against the law"
They also don't care about harassment and say "that's freedom of speech.You wouldn't believe what people say to me when I am out in the yard and have that patrol car parked in my driveway. They flip me off cuss me out" A cop actually said that once when I complained about neighbors harassing me.
Haha, I can't believe cops where you live would actually call harassment assault. Verbal harassment? You are lucky then.
You are really lucky they listen and not just say it's freedom of speech. That's what they do around here. It's okay to harrass because it's freedom of speech.

OK I misunderstood what you were saying slightly, but the point is unchanged.

Anyhow, by your logic I suppose you could call the police right now and say "hey this dude amazon television just accosted me and I want to file some assault charges", and I suppose they would have to "file" the charges. But when they come talking to me I'll say "whoa, I heard of this Kevin LA guy, but I don't even know what the guy looks like, much less where he lives... Assault? Really? Man I don't know what his deal is"...

Now that would be a true statement. If the guy in your hypothetical were to say the same thing to the cops (which is probably more or less exactly what he'd say), that would be a lie, but due to the fact that you did not have a scratch on you to speak of after this altercation, it would be impossible to determine (or even have the first clue) who was in fact telling the truth. Think it would ever make it to court? Do you think the cops would bother looking for more than 5 minutes for a witness to corroborate your story?

I sure hope they wouldn't. And of course it's nothing personal, it's just the same as my hoping they aren't rolling around peeling off 57 in a 55 speeding tickets.