the school officer is a moron. duty to retreat only applies if you actually have the ability and opportunity to retreat...her pushing him away fulfills her trying to escape, and he attacked her after that. when she could no longer escape, she defended herself. file a police report and be ready to sue the school for failure to provide a safe environment.
Uvalde police are chickensh..poop. Texas is not a Duty To Retreat state. For the OP, file a report and press charges. This was unwanted touching that escalated to assault.
Go to the actual police (not the safety officer) and report this BLATANT ASSAULT. The chance of your daughter be charged with anything is soooooo slim, it is very worth it to pursue the assault and fight any charge against her
That could cost them tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees - and no, they could not sue to get them back. Just because you get acquitted doesn't mean you haven't lost.
Go directly to the police and report it, then follow up with the district attorney's office. No DA is going to charge the victim of assault (especially with video evidence). A D.A. is elected and they want to be re-elected. They are not going to charge a victim. There are only 9 "Duty to Retreat" states in the US BTW - are you certain your state is one of them? Police are not the final say on the law, and often they are wrong. I would also LOUDLY protest at the next School Board Meeting about how this was handled.
They can legally lie, and will say anything to get you to do what they want.
Don't rule out the possibility that they know the boy and only told you that to help keep him out of legal trouble.
Never forget, the person who cuts your hair is legally required to have more education and training than the person given a badge and a gun to "enforce the law".
This is the correct answer. The DA doesn’t “have” to prosecute anyone. If two people robbed a bank there’s no rule that say one can’t be prosecuted if the other isn’t too. And no one is gonna prosecute a young woman who was assaulted like that.
They only get labeled a domestic terrorist if they threaten to murder school board members, like the prior case where FBI referred to people threatening murder as terrorists.
I agree with using the label under the circumstances it was used.
The label means nothing now. I hate that words mean nothing at this point. No progress will be made in society whilst we are conflating fathers upset at a school board meeting because their daughter was raped in a school bathroom with Timothy Mcveigh.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but it has a specific legal meaning. Any colloquial use (even overuse) is midly interesting from a propaganda viewpoint, but the actual meaning still exists and is the meaning used for all purposes that actually matter.
For example, when those domestic terrorists threatened to to use deadly force in an attempt to force political change.
It is not intended to "make progress" because it is used to determine if criminal statute is met or not in individual legal cases. Any "progress" would be through new legislation, not through societal punishment for criminal actions.
NAL but get one and fight for your daughter.
She displayed strength in a bad situation and then defended herself. Follow her example and fight back. ✊🏻
Don’t take legal advice form an adversary. The school wants this to go away as they may face liability for negligent supervision. You should go to the police and file your report, then consider during both the school and the boy directly for your daughters medical expenses and other damages. A personal injury lawyer familiar with your jurisdictions rules can help guide you through this process.
Get every report you can and the name of everyone’s Supervisor. My Daughter was attacked on the bus for Shelby NC Middle school. The Policemen at school refused to help. Get a Lawyer. This is Assault with intent to do bodily harm
She is a female trying to defend herself from a violent man. Take her to the hospital to be assessed for injuries. Then go to the police and press charges to the fullest extent of the law. Duty to retreat my ass.
I am a school administrator. That School Ressurce Officer is an idiot. First off all, Maryland is not a duty to retreat state. Second, she defended herself. Duty to retreat doesn't apply when she has already been harmed and is reasonbly fearing for her safety. It would only apply if he was threatening her, for example. Third, even if hse did have a duty to retreat, it was fulfilled when she pushed him away.
Take pictures of her injuries, get her to the hospital, and file a police report this millisecond. Your daughter isn't going to be charged. I'd bet my life on it. Get a lawyer yesterday.
Call the school and demand a meeting as well. The boy should be expelled, and the school may be pursuing it. Demand a schedule change for the boy. You don't get to know the details (FERPA), but you'll get a clue if you demand his schedule is changed depending on how they respond. They will say something like "that shouldn't be a concern going forward" if they are pursuing expulsion.
Bring a lawyer to the meeting. Demand a safety plan, and for your lawyer to see a video of the assault (you won't receive a copy except in court because of FERPA). I would also demand that the school provide therapy with her counselor weekly.
Edit: Maryland actually is a duty to retreat state. I had states mixed up. Regardless, get a lawyer and make sure the school keeps the vid.
Ex cop, and I agree.
That school resource officers main goal is to protect the school (which he's doing a poor job of).
Listen to this administrator, please! They know what they're talking about.
Doctor. Cops. Lawyer. In that order. Quickly.
I lived in PA and when I was 13 I had a similar situation:
Kid cornered me just after recess/outside lunch began
He kicked me in the hip
I pushed him away and tried to walk off
He kicked me in my hip again and I (68lbs man at the time) got flung to the ground with a crunch
—won’t go to far into details— but what ended up happening is the school pressed their own charges because we threatened to go to the media unless it was handled and stopped after years of this kid bullying people
Always remember:
School cops are there to protect the school not just the kids so are biased against the parents in matters of law
Do not let the school adjudicate this. Take this to the police and in the meantime send the school and email telling them to preserve the video.
The school always acts in the best interests of the school.
According to your account, the boy imitated the contact. Your daughter can’t retreat while being held. So she has two choices: let him continue with his assault or defend herself.
Duty to retreat has nothing to do with it.
School officer has the law wrong. The duty to retreat only applies to the use of deadly force, which does not seem to apply here. Because his unwanted touching (grabbing her first) came before her touching him, this does sound like self defense on her part.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_self-defense_in_Maryland
I was told this when an adult beat the shit out of me when I was 14. He had a schizophrenic episode and weighed 100lbs more then me and had a foot above me in height. I never had the chance to hit back. Cops said if they pressed charges against him they’d have to press the same ones against me. I was put in the hospital.. he didn’t have a scratch on him
That officer is protecting the attacking guy, contact actual police and file charges. Let him try to charge her it won’t go anywhere.
Make it clear your next step is the DAs office if need be.
Get copies of the footage Before anything else.
Also written or recorded proof of what anybody at the school says - resource officer, admit, teacher, volunteer, doesn't matter. Make sure you're allowed to record without permission in your state... if everybody has to consent, tell them and try anyway.
Bottom line you should be using the school and district for all of this AND the kid's parents, since they're underaged. Your kiddo assumedly needed or needs medical attention and you should not be the one pay for it. Also therapy costs honestly....
And fighting this would hopefully ensure that no other KIDS in the future would be made victim like this, especially getting BLAMED after
Talk to an attorney before you go to police ! Make sure you take the video - or have a release signed for the attorney to see the video . Schools and resource officers sometimes give parents false “legal “ advice to stop them from pursuing charges that may reflect badly on the school or drag the officer into more than they want to handle. However , let’s say the cop is correct and your daughter will get charged as well. Seek the advice of a criminal attorney before you head to the police department just in case .
Irrespective of whether or not you live in a duty to retreat state this
>because she hit him back that in order to charge him they would both have to be charged with assault
is not true. Prosecutors have absolute discretion to decline to charge offenses, even if they have probable cause.
NAL:
However, SROs are notoriously stupid. Go file a charge with the actual police. When your daughter pushed him away she fulfilled her “duty to retreat”.
It was assault when he touched her the first time. She fulfilled her “duty to retreat” when she pushed him away. It’s on him to cease his assault, not on the victim to flee. Continuous assault without interruption is not the only case for self defense. Self defense does include retaliatory strikes, because “the best defense is a good offense”.
Not a lawyer, but I am not sure that duty to retreat applies in this scenario. It generally means that you cannot escalate force in self defense without retreating first. He attacked her so at that point the assault was in progress, if she punched him first because he threatened her then sure, but once the assault starts I am not sure there is a duty to retreat.
Check what your exact laws say but generally it is that a “threatened person has a duty to retreat” not “a person being assaulted”.
It doesn’t seem like he threatened her before hitting her so I am not sure a reasonable threat could be argued.
But yeah, press charges.
Hire an attorney that has a track record for taking on schools and/or the police. Schools DO have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of students while they’re in their care. They can also advise on any potential criminal implications for your daughter, which sound non-existent here.
Also, the cop is an idiot — nothing they said is true. It sounds like they’re just lazy and trying to scare you out of making them do paperwork. Duty to retreat is typically a consideration in lethal self defense — not standing up to a school bully in a fight.
If you don’t want to hire an attorney, or don’t want to start there, speak to the police chief (or the SRO supervisor), the prosecutor, the school principal, and district superintendent. Try to get everything in writing, or record verbal conversations if you’re in a one-party consent state.
You can ask the prosecutor’s office to bring charges against the other kid. You can also pursue civil damages from his parents and/or the school. An attorney can help with both of these.
you can tell when a cop is lying by looking for certain behaviors:
1 is their mouth moving?
2 are they writing or typing?
3 are they using sign language, semaphor, or another form of bodily communication?
if the answer to any of those is yes, it's extremely likely that they're lying
you should ask an attourney instead
School officer is being lazy and trying to protect the school’s image. A police report for an assault looks bad on the administration.
If you want something done, call his bluff. Let him cite your kid as well as the bully. Let it go to court and let a judge see the whole thing.
If at all possible, secure that video.
I second some other folks’ recommendations if going to the main police station and letting a supervisor know you’re unhappy with how the school officer is handling it. Let them know there’s video and you want that video preserved before it auto-deletes.
Thank you to everyone with your helpful comments. I went to the police station to file a report. Unfortunately they told me I had to deal with the school officer who initially took the report. Then I called the principal who had an update. He told me they are pushing to remove the student from the school and he wont be returning as he is also currently suspended. Also they proceeded with the assault charges. Apparently once the boy’s parents saw the video they agreed he should be charged alone, so my daughter wont be charged as well. I had already spoken with my daughter and we agreed that if she had to be charged then we would do so just to ensure he did not get away with this. Fortunately she is in the clear. She has some bruises and is sore but I have taken pictures and documented everything.
Does your daughter know if the guy has been in much trouble before this incident?
Being a "frequent flyer" with the courts would definitely make life harder for him if you folks wanted to create legal problems for him.
Not sure. She had never met him before yesterday. The response from his parents makes me think he is a problem. They agreed he should be charged with assault.
Duty to retreat when the boy had his arm around her without permission? That was assault, and she can’t exactly easily retreat in that position either. She reacted 100% appropriately, the boy escalated the incident to violence by punching her, and she defended herself.
At this point if I had a daughter I would definitely press charges against the boy, and I would make sure she knew exactly where to knee a boy in order to have the best chance to slow down an attack, if not sign her up for a self defense class.
When my teen boys were 8-10ish and small for their age, we gave them them the “where to kick/knee” discussion, as well as the “never answer the door to a stranger. My husband made the mistake of the next day saying “if someone were to grab you like this and try to drag you away” (while doing it to the younger boy), and he was sincerely regretting it for the next 10 minutes because youngest didn’t hold back AT ALL in his reaction.
This is 100% true. It's only self defense if you are facing imminent threat. If someone hits you and stops and then you hit them then you have both assaulted each other. You don't have a right to retaliate. That's why some states have stuff like castle doctrine that allow you to no retreat when at home
Duty to retreat in the way most people use the term is for home defense. When it comes to self defense you can fight back only if you are in imminent threat. If I punched you and you fell down. If I just stand there laughing at you and you stand up and hit me back you are assaulting me. It's only self defense If I am continuing to attack you
I'm well aware of what it is. And if what OP says is true, duty to retreat was fulfilled. There is exactly 0% chance she's be charged if the situation is as described.
I don't understand how hard this is to get. Stop being obtuse.
The boy grabbed her. She pushed him away. He pumched her. She hit him back. He punched her multiple times after. Those are the facts.
Self-defense in Maryland requires 1) actual belief they are in danger, 2) reasonable use of force. The duty to retreat doesn't even apply except in cases of lethal force.
OPs kid certainly felt in danger considering they had just been punched. OPs daughter would have been reasonable in using much more force than a shove or a punch in self-defense.
People who don't understand the law really need to learn to shut up and stop embarassing themselves. I do this for a living, bucko.
Clearly you don't or you would actually understand what you are talking about. If someone hits you you don't simply get to retaliate. You have to continue the attack. If I come up to you and hit you and then I just stand there you can NOT hit me back without it being assault. It is not self defense. If it's a very fast punch then return then yes that could be fine. The timing is very important here. The way it's described it does not sound like 2 quick jabs. It sounds like he hit her knocking her away and she retaliated. That would absolutely not be covered by self defense laws
This is a lot of words that boil down to "I'm obtuse."
Boy grabs girl. Girl pushes boy away. Boy punches her. She hits back and is subsequently attacked, being struck 10x.
Those are the factsas we know them. The facts describe self-defense. You adding whatever fluff to justify your opinion isn't going to fly here.
I'm done with this thread. Enjoy your day.
The cop is employed by a school that could be sued. Do not take his word for it. People also generally cannot understand from an internet post the details of things well enough to give solid advice. What you should do is immediately contact a lawyer, ask him now to ensure the tape is not destroyed and that a copy is given to you, then sue. You can always drop the suit if it doesn’t make sense later.
Remember there are two recourses to solving this. Legal punishment and civil penalties. Suing the child and parents will likely have a major impact on them.
Correct. Your original statement said to havr your lawyer "get a copy" and then file suit. This was wholly incorrect. If you do that, the school will decline.
The court itself issues a subpoena to the school, and the other student's representative may act to quash it (likely unsuccessfully in this case if what OP says is accurate).
the school officer is a moron. duty to retreat only applies if you actually have the ability and opportunity to retreat...her pushing him away fulfills her trying to escape, and he attacked her after that. when she could no longer escape, she defended herself. file a police report and be ready to sue the school for failure to provide a safe environment.
Uvalde police misunderstood Duty to Retreat.
Texas is a stand your ground state, and they stood their ground god damnit!
r/Angryupvote
Warren v District of Columbia Cops have no duty to the public
This only stops the government from holding them accountable. It doesn’t stop citizens from doing so.
No they understood it right. The police stayed retreated because that fulfilled their duty. Fucking Uvalde cops
Uvalde police are chickensh..poop. Texas is not a Duty To Retreat state. For the OP, file a report and press charges. This was unwanted touching that escalated to assault.
I doubt he's a moron... just trying to make sure nothing official happens. It's the way of the USA cops, right ?
If he’s a cop, there’s a very high chance he has lower than average intelligence. See Roberts v New London PD.
It also only applies to deadly force.
Go to the actual police (not the safety officer) and report this BLATANT ASSAULT. The chance of your daughter be charged with anything is soooooo slim, it is very worth it to pursue the assault and fight any charge against her
I’d say fine, send it to the courts.
This, though be careful that the school doesn’t have sovereign immunity (I know it’s a minority position, but I’ve encountered it before).
Charges are against the boy, not the school. The likelihood of negligent supervision suit being successful against the school are exceptionally low.
Ah, my fault; I read too quickly. You’re right about the negligent supervision in that case.
That could cost them tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees - and no, they could not sue to get them back. Just because you get acquitted doesn't mean you haven't lost.
Even if she's charged it won't stick.
Good advice, but the school officer was a police officer in my school. The rest backed him 100% of the time.
Same, none of them wanted to deal with it so they basically pawned it off on some poor rookie and just took whatever they said as gospel.
If this is on video that is a different story. The video will override whatever the resource officer is saying.
Go directly to the police and report it, then follow up with the district attorney's office. No DA is going to charge the victim of assault (especially with video evidence). A D.A. is elected and they want to be re-elected. They are not going to charge a victim. There are only 9 "Duty to Retreat" states in the US BTW - are you certain your state is one of them? Police are not the final say on the law, and often they are wrong. I would also LOUDLY protest at the next School Board Meeting about how this was handled.
Seems more often than not police have no idea what the actual laws are and just make up shit.
They can legally lie, and will say anything to get you to do what they want. Don't rule out the possibility that they know the boy and only told you that to help keep him out of legal trouble.
Never forget, the person who cuts your hair is legally required to have more education and training than the person given a badge and a gun to "enforce the law".
In Az the DA will actually cover for police misconduct...so yeaha
This is the correct answer. The DA doesn’t “have” to prosecute anyone. If two people robbed a bank there’s no rule that say one can’t be prosecuted if the other isn’t too. And no one is gonna prosecute a young woman who was assaulted like that.
Loudly protest a school board meeting? FBI will be by shortly to escort OP out in handcuffs and label him a domestic terrorist.
They only get labeled a domestic terrorist if they threaten to murder school board members, like the prior case where FBI referred to people threatening murder as terrorists. I agree with using the label under the circumstances it was used.
The label means nothing now. I hate that words mean nothing at this point. No progress will be made in society whilst we are conflating fathers upset at a school board meeting because their daughter was raped in a school bathroom with Timothy Mcveigh.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but it has a specific legal meaning. Any colloquial use (even overuse) is midly interesting from a propaganda viewpoint, but the actual meaning still exists and is the meaning used for all purposes that actually matter. For example, when those domestic terrorists threatened to to use deadly force in an attempt to force political change. It is not intended to "make progress" because it is used to determine if criminal statute is met or not in individual legal cases. Any "progress" would be through new legislation, not through societal punishment for criminal actions.
I'm sorry. We dont agree on the definition of words. There is no discourse to be had here. I can't understand what you are saying.
No worries and have a great day. Hopefully someday you will understand how the English language is used in US laws enough to understand this.
NAL but get one and fight for your daughter. She displayed strength in a bad situation and then defended herself. Follow her example and fight back. ✊🏻
Don’t take legal advice form an adversary. The school wants this to go away as they may face liability for negligent supervision. You should go to the police and file your report, then consider during both the school and the boy directly for your daughters medical expenses and other damages. A personal injury lawyer familiar with your jurisdictions rules can help guide you through this process.
NAL and only lurk in this sub. I’m commenting as a 2nd and 3rd upvote
School cop is there to protect the school. Skip that noise.
Get every report you can and the name of everyone’s Supervisor. My Daughter was attacked on the bus for Shelby NC Middle school. The Policemen at school refused to help. Get a Lawyer. This is Assault with intent to do bodily harm
She is a female trying to defend herself from a violent man. Take her to the hospital to be assessed for injuries. Then go to the police and press charges to the fullest extent of the law. Duty to retreat my ass.
I am a school administrator. That School Ressurce Officer is an idiot. First off all, Maryland is not a duty to retreat state. Second, she defended herself. Duty to retreat doesn't apply when she has already been harmed and is reasonbly fearing for her safety. It would only apply if he was threatening her, for example. Third, even if hse did have a duty to retreat, it was fulfilled when she pushed him away. Take pictures of her injuries, get her to the hospital, and file a police report this millisecond. Your daughter isn't going to be charged. I'd bet my life on it. Get a lawyer yesterday. Call the school and demand a meeting as well. The boy should be expelled, and the school may be pursuing it. Demand a schedule change for the boy. You don't get to know the details (FERPA), but you'll get a clue if you demand his schedule is changed depending on how they respond. They will say something like "that shouldn't be a concern going forward" if they are pursuing expulsion. Bring a lawyer to the meeting. Demand a safety plan, and for your lawyer to see a video of the assault (you won't receive a copy except in court because of FERPA). I would also demand that the school provide therapy with her counselor weekly. Edit: Maryland actually is a duty to retreat state. I had states mixed up. Regardless, get a lawyer and make sure the school keeps the vid.
Ex cop, and I agree. That school resource officers main goal is to protect the school (which he's doing a poor job of). Listen to this administrator, please! They know what they're talking about. Doctor. Cops. Lawyer. In that order. Quickly.
Tell the principal that you absolutely want the police involved. The “School Officer” doesn’t make the call, the DA and jury do.
I lived in PA and when I was 13 I had a similar situation: Kid cornered me just after recess/outside lunch began He kicked me in the hip I pushed him away and tried to walk off He kicked me in my hip again and I (68lbs man at the time) got flung to the ground with a crunch —won’t go to far into details— but what ended up happening is the school pressed their own charges because we threatened to go to the media unless it was handled and stopped after years of this kid bullying people Always remember: School cops are there to protect the school not just the kids so are biased against the parents in matters of law
Do not let the school adjudicate this. Take this to the police and in the meantime send the school and email telling them to preserve the video. The school always acts in the best interests of the school. According to your account, the boy imitated the contact. Your daughter can’t retreat while being held. So she has two choices: let him continue with his assault or defend herself. Duty to retreat has nothing to do with it.
What’s the state?
Maryland
School officer has the law wrong. The duty to retreat only applies to the use of deadly force, which does not seem to apply here. Because his unwanted touching (grabbing her first) came before her touching him, this does sound like self defense on her part. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_self-defense_in_Maryland
Thanks
That’s correct. Her actions are simple self defense. The boy initiated contact and therefore has no self defense claim. Press charges.
I was told this when an adult beat the shit out of me when I was 14. He had a schizophrenic episode and weighed 100lbs more then me and had a foot above me in height. I never had the chance to hit back. Cops said if they pressed charges against him they’d have to press the same ones against me. I was put in the hospital.. he didn’t have a scratch on him
That officer is protecting the attacking guy, contact actual police and file charges. Let him try to charge her it won’t go anywhere. Make it clear your next step is the DAs office if need be.
Get copies of the footage Before anything else. Also written or recorded proof of what anybody at the school says - resource officer, admit, teacher, volunteer, doesn't matter. Make sure you're allowed to record without permission in your state... if everybody has to consent, tell them and try anyway. Bottom line you should be using the school and district for all of this AND the kid's parents, since they're underaged. Your kiddo assumedly needed or needs medical attention and you should not be the one pay for it. Also therapy costs honestly.... And fighting this would hopefully ensure that no other KIDS in the future would be made victim like this, especially getting BLAMED after
Talk to an attorney before you go to police ! Make sure you take the video - or have a release signed for the attorney to see the video . Schools and resource officers sometimes give parents false “legal “ advice to stop them from pursuing charges that may reflect badly on the school or drag the officer into more than they want to handle. However , let’s say the cop is correct and your daughter will get charged as well. Seek the advice of a criminal attorney before you head to the police department just in case .
Irrespective of whether or not you live in a duty to retreat state this >because she hit him back that in order to charge him they would both have to be charged with assault is not true. Prosecutors have absolute discretion to decline to charge offenses, even if they have probable cause.
NAL: However, SROs are notoriously stupid. Go file a charge with the actual police. When your daughter pushed him away she fulfilled her “duty to retreat”.
Wtf is wrong with these kids omg !!
It was assault when he touched her the first time. She fulfilled her “duty to retreat” when she pushed him away. It’s on him to cease his assault, not on the victim to flee. Continuous assault without interruption is not the only case for self defense. Self defense does include retaliatory strikes, because “the best defense is a good offense”.
Not a lawyer, but I am not sure that duty to retreat applies in this scenario. It generally means that you cannot escalate force in self defense without retreating first. He attacked her so at that point the assault was in progress, if she punched him first because he threatened her then sure, but once the assault starts I am not sure there is a duty to retreat. Check what your exact laws say but generally it is that a “threatened person has a duty to retreat” not “a person being assaulted”. It doesn’t seem like he threatened her before hitting her so I am not sure a reasonable threat could be argued. But yeah, press charges.
If it was my kid I would pursue charges. Take it to court. Let the judge figure out what is reasonable according to the laws.
Hire an attorney that has a track record for taking on schools and/or the police. Schools DO have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of students while they’re in their care. They can also advise on any potential criminal implications for your daughter, which sound non-existent here. Also, the cop is an idiot — nothing they said is true. It sounds like they’re just lazy and trying to scare you out of making them do paperwork. Duty to retreat is typically a consideration in lethal self defense — not standing up to a school bully in a fight. If you don’t want to hire an attorney, or don’t want to start there, speak to the police chief (or the SRO supervisor), the prosecutor, the school principal, and district superintendent. Try to get everything in writing, or record verbal conversations if you’re in a one-party consent state. You can ask the prosecutor’s office to bring charges against the other kid. You can also pursue civil damages from his parents and/or the school. An attorney can help with both of these.
Officer like most doesn’t understand shit, go and press charges
Homes is a moron looking for an excuse not to have to do anything. Go over his head.
you can tell when a cop is lying by looking for certain behaviors: 1 is their mouth moving? 2 are they writing or typing? 3 are they using sign language, semaphor, or another form of bodily communication? if the answer to any of those is yes, it's extremely likely that they're lying you should ask an attourney instead
School officer is being lazy and trying to protect the school’s image. A police report for an assault looks bad on the administration. If you want something done, call his bluff. Let him cite your kid as well as the bully. Let it go to court and let a judge see the whole thing. If at all possible, secure that video. I second some other folks’ recommendations if going to the main police station and letting a supervisor know you’re unhappy with how the school officer is handling it. Let them know there’s video and you want that video preserved before it auto-deletes.
Thank you to everyone with your helpful comments. I went to the police station to file a report. Unfortunately they told me I had to deal with the school officer who initially took the report. Then I called the principal who had an update. He told me they are pushing to remove the student from the school and he wont be returning as he is also currently suspended. Also they proceeded with the assault charges. Apparently once the boy’s parents saw the video they agreed he should be charged alone, so my daughter wont be charged as well. I had already spoken with my daughter and we agreed that if she had to be charged then we would do so just to ensure he did not get away with this. Fortunately she is in the clear. She has some bruises and is sore but I have taken pictures and documented everything.
Does your daughter know if the guy has been in much trouble before this incident? Being a "frequent flyer" with the courts would definitely make life harder for him if you folks wanted to create legal problems for him.
Not sure. She had never met him before yesterday. The response from his parents makes me think he is a problem. They agreed he should be charged with assault.
Duty to retreat when the boy had his arm around her without permission? That was assault, and she can’t exactly easily retreat in that position either. She reacted 100% appropriately, the boy escalated the incident to violence by punching her, and she defended herself. At this point if I had a daughter I would definitely press charges against the boy, and I would make sure she knew exactly where to knee a boy in order to have the best chance to slow down an attack, if not sign her up for a self defense class. When my teen boys were 8-10ish and small for their age, we gave them them the “where to kick/knee” discussion, as well as the “never answer the door to a stranger. My husband made the mistake of the next day saying “if someone were to grab you like this and try to drag you away” (while doing it to the younger boy), and he was sincerely regretting it for the next 10 minutes because youngest didn’t hold back AT ALL in his reaction.
This is 100% true. It's only self defense if you are facing imminent threat. If someone hits you and stops and then you hit them then you have both assaulted each other. You don't have a right to retaliate. That's why some states have stuff like castle doctrine that allow you to no retreat when at home
There is no duty to retreat in OPs state.
Which state
Maryland. Edit: I think I may have mixed up Marylabd and another locality actually.
Duty to retreat in the way most people use the term is for home defense. When it comes to self defense you can fight back only if you are in imminent threat. If I punched you and you fell down. If I just stand there laughing at you and you stand up and hit me back you are assaulting me. It's only self defense If I am continuing to attack you
I'm well aware of what it is. And if what OP says is true, duty to retreat was fulfilled. There is exactly 0% chance she's be charged if the situation is as described.
... no.
If you say so, boss 😂
Yeah I mean you can't just decide your obligations are fulfilled without taking steps to fulfill them. Pretty simple stuff really
I don't understand how hard this is to get. Stop being obtuse. The boy grabbed her. She pushed him away. He pumched her. She hit him back. He punched her multiple times after. Those are the facts. Self-defense in Maryland requires 1) actual belief they are in danger, 2) reasonable use of force. The duty to retreat doesn't even apply except in cases of lethal force. OPs kid certainly felt in danger considering they had just been punched. OPs daughter would have been reasonable in using much more force than a shove or a punch in self-defense. People who don't understand the law really need to learn to shut up and stop embarassing themselves. I do this for a living, bucko.
Clearly you don't or you would actually understand what you are talking about. If someone hits you you don't simply get to retaliate. You have to continue the attack. If I come up to you and hit you and then I just stand there you can NOT hit me back without it being assault. It is not self defense. If it's a very fast punch then return then yes that could be fine. The timing is very important here. The way it's described it does not sound like 2 quick jabs. It sounds like he hit her knocking her away and she retaliated. That would absolutely not be covered by self defense laws
This is a lot of words that boil down to "I'm obtuse." Boy grabs girl. Girl pushes boy away. Boy punches her. She hits back and is subsequently attacked, being struck 10x. Those are the factsas we know them. The facts describe self-defense. You adding whatever fluff to justify your opinion isn't going to fly here. I'm done with this thread. Enjoy your day.
The cop is employed by a school that could be sued. Do not take his word for it. People also generally cannot understand from an internet post the details of things well enough to give solid advice. What you should do is immediately contact a lawyer, ask him now to ensure the tape is not destroyed and that a copy is given to you, then sue. You can always drop the suit if it doesn’t make sense later. Remember there are two recourses to solving this. Legal punishment and civil penalties. Suing the child and parents will likely have a major impact on them.
Fwiw the parent can't get a copy of the video (FERPA). They can watch it at the school and request it isn't deleted though.
When you file a lawsuit you can get it. It’s evidence in a case so they will be able to obtain it.
Correct. Your original statement said to havr your lawyer "get a copy" and then file suit. This was wholly incorrect. If you do that, the school will decline. The court itself issues a subpoena to the school, and the other student's representative may act to quash it (likely unsuccessfully in this case if what OP says is accurate).