Assault and Battery by an Adult Against a Teenage Minor

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California. I wrote the following report last night in an effort to ready myself for any eventual questioning. This report is accurate & detailed. So I will ask my question after the report. . .

Today’s date August 7th 2010. I am writing this detailed report exactly 4 hours after the incident in question occurred. On August 7th 2010 at approximately 4:15 pm, my wife & I were leaving the Mall. Upon leaving, a male 17 year old was entering the mall. He aggressively bumped his right shoulder into the middle section of my chest, knocking the right side of my body back to a 90 degree angle so that I was facing him as he continued walking. My limp left arm was also sprung upwards so that my left hand hit my face. The young adult’s bump into me was aggressive because I could feel his right shoulder & right side of his body stiffen as he bumped through me. In other words, the right side of his body did not go limp or thrust back to absorb the physical contact between us. His muscles stiffened which resulted in the act of bumping into me with more force. The fact that his right shoulder landed squarely in the center of my upper torso between my chest would indicate that he had no intention of altering his course despite the fact that I already altered my course more left of him. When I landed on my right foot at a 90 degree angle, I was facing him as he walked away. I then said “Excuse me!” He looked back & said “**** You bitch!” to me. I then said “Excuse me?” He then became very aggressive & ran up to me. He yelled a few expletives where I became aggressive & yelled back. Because of my disability, the left side of my body locks if I become nervous, aggressive or suddenly startled. From then on, every muscle in the left side of my body is getting full brain activity. It causes my left leg to straighten very stiff & my left arm to bend upwards. All left fingers curl up as well in different directions. At this point he began jumping towards me with his chest protruding outward & landing on my upper torso, knocking me backwards. If I fell onto the floor, my left hand would land strait with a very real threat of breaking my fingers & wrist. When I had to raise my hand & physically push him back in mid flight, I went from pushing him back to striking him in the lower left jaw with the closed fist of my good hand. This stunned him for about 2 seconds where he became more aggressive. He began yelling, “I am a minor!!! Hit me!!! I ****ing dare You!!! Come on hit me, I’ll kill you!!!” I attempted to strike him again, but he flung himself backwards & began laughing. At this point I did not attempt to strike him again in fear of showing him the full extent of my disability. My leg suddenly unlocked, I turned around & began walking in the direction where we were originally going. He came running out after us followed by the mall security. When they tried to restrain him he became more aggressive pulling away from them & towards my wife. My wife yelled at him to go away where he pushed his chest out & yelled at the top of his lungs, “**** YOU BITCH!!!!!” She took out her hairspray & sprayed it at him (presumably to startle him into thinking it was pepper spray) I immediately reacted by striking him on the side of his face. He reacted by leaping towards me & throwing two punches. I countered by throwing one punch, missing him & then another just clipping his chin. This almost caused me to fall forward, but the security helped balance me. It also seemed to calm him down where the police soon arrived. Both of us had superficial wounds. My right knuckle was cut. I also noticed two deep cuts on the mid section of my right arm. I noticed that he had bruising on face along with a little of my blood from the cut on my hand. For the record, not one of my strikes or attempted strikes was made out of anger. All of them were reactionary & none of them could have landed if he were not within my personal space, because I am not physically capable of moving once an altercation starts. My left leg is anchored as I move in a circle to keep my front facing him. If he even briskly walked away from me, it would be impossible for me to catch him as any physical therapist will testify. Though I noticed many witnesses against me at the scene of the incident, I also heard 100% of them saying “He’s a grown man beating up on a kid” I would say to those people that a 17 year old is no kid. It also does not give this “kid” the right to jump into people’s faces because he is a kid. For the record again. I am a grown man, but I am also a grown man who cannot run & had to fight this “kid” with only one arm. I will end this letter by stating that my family has always lived by that old motto, “THERE'S NO SHAME IN WALKING AWAY” but this person made that impossible by following & threatening us with physical harm. . . My question is this. Since he was labeled the victim in this by both police & witnesses, (Mind you, those witnesses only saw me hitting him & not anything leading up to it) & he had visible bruising on his face, what do I need to worry about? We were both let go by the police. No charges were filed. Do I need to worry about a lawsuit from his family? I own a house but am neck deep in debt. I have no assets & am unemployed. Is this a legendary case of the 17 year old striking it rich by getting a significant monetary award settlement from me?

What is the nature of your disability?

That renders you incapable of movement once an altercation starts?

I'm not being facetious here - it's a serious question.

Yes, you should be worried; even though no charges were filed you've been labeled the aggressor and the victim does have the right to pursue action against you.

The correct reaction incidentally would have been to ignore the rude young man and go about your business after he bumped into you. Why you even acknowledged him is beyond me.

An artery ruptured in my brain causing left side peralisis. I have the same exact injury as a stroke victim. I have no use of my left arm & hand & limited use of my left leg. So what you're saying is if someone is 17, & almost knocks you down as they walk by, you should accept that & just keep going? (Don't get me wrong! I've learned my lesson! It took far more time to deal with that issue than it was worth to me!)

Oh and please define action!

That's EXACTLY what I'm saying, yes.

Rude people are sadly not uncommon - you chose to engage him though instead of walking away.

With a police report in hand he may be able to sue you civilly for any injuries and criminal charges may still be brought.

I just noticed another question that you asked. Yes once an altercation starts where I become nervous or angry, the brain activity shoots way up. This is true of all of us, but in my case, the left side of my body is hyper sensitive & shows this brain activity by firing every muscle in the left side of my body. Fingers are getting both open & close signals. Leg is getting both flextion & extension signals until finally the body goes into a safe mode & locks the leg & stiffens left upper body to not move. If I attempt to walk at that point, leg stays fully extended not allowing clearance. A fall is immanent from that point. So I stay where I am until my leg unlocks or the brain signals calm down

In theory you could be sued, but unless the minor has some injury that requires treatment, it would likely be a waste of time and money to try. If they make a claim against you then you will know where it is heading.

As for criminal charges, you could be charged with misdemeanor battery (PC 242) unless he has injuries that require medical treatment in which case more serious felony battery charges could follow.

If only the misdemeanor battery, the state has a year to file - three years if a felony. However, I would think you'd know inside of 3 months for either one.

OK, thank you for explaining that.

If charges are filed or you are on the end of a civil suit, I strongly suggest you hire an attorney and be sure to bring medical evidence showing that your condition does perhaps limit your options physically as to what you can and cannot do.

Once again, I could not have touched him unless he was within my personal space or within arms length. I am incapable of following up a punch or strike with another without falling forward. He was more than in my personal space. He was landing against me with his chest. How is that not justify a response?

Thank you for answering my questions

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Quoting bublik

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Once again, I could not have touched him unless he was within my personal space or within arms length. I am incapable of following up a punch or strike with another without falling forward. He was more than in my personal space. He was landing against me with his chest. How is that not justify a response?

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The only legal response is one that is made in self defense. If the force you utilized was only that which was necessary to protect yourself from assault, then you can attempt to argue that in court. However, self defense is a justification made by the defense and not one that the police will evaluate. The DA might weigh that in any charging decision they make, but the police will not likely take that too much into account.

There is no legal right to punch someone simply because he is ion your personal space.

For a civil case, who knows how it will fly. Civil suits are a different animal.

So what is the worst civil suit I could expect?