If he is no threat.... Are you even being assaulted? "An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal or civil liability. Generally, the common lawdefinition is the same in criminal and Tort Law." assault
Eh, the word has some nuance... From Definition of ASSAULT AND BATTERY Word by Word Definitions assault play : a violent physical or verbal attack : a military attack usually involving direct combat with enemy forces : a concerted effort (as to reach a goal or defeat an adversary) : to make an assault on : to attack violently : rape : to make an assault See the full definition of assault battery play : the act of beating someone or something with successive blows : the act of battering (see 1batter 1) : an offensive touching or use of force on a person without the person's consent — compare assault 2a : a grouping of artillery pieces for tactical (see tactical 1a(1)) purposes I think the bolded parts match kid's actions... though I may be interpreting "beating someone or something with successive blows" a bit broadly... not sure if it applies if the blows aren't strong enough to cause injury. Perhaps saying "he is battering me" is more accurate than "he is assaulting me", but I think a case could be made either way, by the definition above at least.
From my original link " An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal or civil liability. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and Tort Law. There is, however, an additional Criminal Law category of assault consisting of an attempted but unsuccessful Battery. Statutory definitions of assault in the various jurisdictions throughout the United States are not substantially different from the common-law definition." Legally I don't think according to the above definition, the kid assaulted the man, and claiming self defence, means your accepting your guilty of assault, but there is a reason for the assault. The kids a jerk for sure, but legally throwing a kid to the ground is dodgy ground.
I think a lot of people would like to believe this, but my experience in the UK is that the Police will not likely justify the time to do such a thing. In my younger days when I was attacked by kids on various incidents, in the cases where the kids were younger by 3-5 years ranging from groups of 10/12 year old all the way to 15/16 year old's the outcome was always the same from the police. The Police knew who they were, and informed us there wasn't much they could do about it apart from move them on unless they caught them in the act. I had other friends who had the same happen - and the outcome with the Police was the same, unless there was significant extreme damage done, then it was not pursued. For me this shaped my view in justification for responding differently to when it occurred superseding times, and I would always advise others not to hesitate to deal with an aggressive attacked even if they are younger, or smaller. Well we need someone to provide a alternative to the discussion
Moooore anecdotes because I'm bored and world cup season means alcohol Already given the story of how my experience at work matches yours but bonus answers: - Being pursued for about a mile by a gang of kids who frequently bullied and attacked me and my brother, being threatened the whole time, including them having a dog and both threatening to let him on us and discussing among themselves whether to, multiple carrying chains, and one smacking my brother across the back with a chain dog lead, myself having a step ladder thrown at me. Ended in the middle of the town centre, loads of witnesses, multiples cctv, known group to the police for being my local yobs with asbos and all that jazz. Absolutely nothing happened when we reported it. Didn't even go and talk to them. - That group also includes one threatening people, myself included, with an imitation gun that we fully believed was real, as well as multiple times flashing knives. Oh and after one time reporting them to the police, having one of their fathers come to our front door with a kitchen knife warning us not to do it again. Again, literally nothing from the police. - Training partner's son was jumped a few weeks ago after school and beaten up badly by a group of kids who recorded it on snapchat and sent it around the school. Police have the video, names and addresses of the attackers, and not a single bit of follow up and have basically told mate they're not going to do anything with it. And this isn't me ragging on the police. I get they're busy, understaffed, and have more important stuff to prioritise. I know there's multiple officers on map and I love each of them. But I've lived a relatively sheltered life and I already have enough experiences with them to not put any faith in them solving an issue that doesn't involve serious violence (although I have a couple of stories about that too), or basically just if it not serious enough for them to come and deal with it immediately and catch people in the act, nothing is going to happen. Which in situations like this just leads to a lesson learnt that you can get away with it. I'm not saying to ignore the police, and I'm certainly not a proponent of vigilante justice either, but the idea that this stuff happens and you take it to the police and something positive happens I have never once seen evidence of. It just seems to be a reality of life that the police have finite time and resources and this stuff is just too much effort for too little payoff.
Would you not agree that it entirely possible to experience simultaneous and differing emotional and intellectual responses to this incident? Deriving mirth or even a certain amount of satisfaction from seeing this certainly doesn't prohibit anyone from appreciating any other facets of the situation. For example it's entirely possible to empathise with both parties and to understand their actions without condoning either. It is also possible to find it both funny and sad.
I have to add that I certainly am not getting at the Police, I have friends work in the Police service, and I know how it works, they have their resource to action what fits with the law, and if it seems a low chance of an actionable outcome then resource will be allocated otherwise. My friends at the time who were also involved unfortunately take a different view of the police which in some cases did lead to their own "carry to protect" opinions and vigilante justice. Until the first time it happened I had a very easy going and blinkered view of the world, and my subsequent attitude to dealing with such people in my case, always resulted in a better outcome than the first times.
I showed this to my mum, who has been a primary school teacher for about 10 years now, and she believes the situation was handled badly from the start, the guy did seem to be almost winding the kid up towards the end. She was also of the belief that the amount of force used was too high for the situation, but that she understood why, especially if the man isn't used to dealing with kids.
I think it's VERY easy for people to criticise this man for his reaction, without having been in that situation.
Wierdly if you view this as apes, it's a junior ape, trying to take the status place of an older adult male ape through threats and low level violence. You see this in animals all the time, but in animals it gets smacked down early, by the family. Which brings the further question, why is the junior ape so insecure of his place in the tribe.
Like I said, if that's other people's sense of humour, fine. I can laugh at terrible things, but when I see someone with all the advantages hurting someone a lot weaker than them, I don't find it funny.
I've had adults try worse and didn't lose it in a hissy fit and have to hurt them. I've had kids try it too. I still think that park attendant did the wrong thing.
Reminds me of the time my parents went away for the weekend when I was a teenager. Kids broke in and stole stuff, my friend happened to see and ID them as they ran away when he went downstairs to put a brew on. Reported it to the police. My friend said that seeing the policeman typing out the report was the most painfully slow one-fingered typing he'd ever seen. When my parents came back the police told them I had sold their stuff for drug money. Great job. However, I'd hope that they would be a bit more responsive to a local government employee. Maybe not though...
Which is great but does your training cover aspects of self-defence/de-escalation, whilst maybe not specific to this incident, which you have applied in your own experiences stated above?
Otterly Ridiculous Complaints Here's a similar situation, however here the person is question is older and should know better, although the context is missing from the clip.
Anecdote time. So I'm on a sports therapy CPD course in Manchester today. Broke for lunch and in the queue at McDonald's in Piccadilly Gardens - which actually has security guards - some kids not older than around 11-12 years old just got hoofed out because one of them punched some older guy in the face. That adult had blood pishing out of his nose. Whoever says preteen kids can't pose a legitimate threat to adults needs to get out more.
The Park attendant could just have easily bear-hugged that kid and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Instead, his ego sank to the level of that kid and he intended to hurt him as an act of emotional domination (hurt, not injure). Okay, let's run with this. The 10 year old boy posed a genuine threat and those punches could easily cause serious injury. That makes his actions worse. Not only did he escalate the situation, even goading the kid into further attacks once it became physical, when he decided to defend himself with violence his actions were far too weak. The kid merely fell over, he was uninjured and still conscious, therefore still posing a serious and viable threat to everyone that park attendant was responsible for. Depending on the state, we've now also made shooting this kid a legal act of self-defence. Don't get me wrong, I think that boy is a nasty spoilt brat and I'd be ashamed to have him as my son. Something has gone very wrong in his upbringing. However, as well as the physical difference (even 12 can be a significant jump in strength from 10), being on the planet for 10 years don't mean you've had a decade of being a fully sentient and self-aware being.
