Twelve-Year-Old Minor Wrongly Issued An Assault Summons in Montana
My son was in class and a boy punched him in the arm very hard 3 times. My son felt he had to defend himself and punched the boy in the jaw. The boy didn't bleed or have any mouth wounds. My son just happened to strike him there without really thinking about it.
Well both were sent to the office, my son is now suspended for 3 days, Havre police was called and he was given a summons for assault, and now he has to do some sort of community service as well.
The other boy who started the whole thing.... walked away with no sort of punishment!!
I took pictures of my son's arm where there is a dark 1" in diameter bruising on his arm where he was struck at.
Something tells me that my son was wrongfully treated by the school staff.
I see it as him simply "defending" himself. Am I wrong in thinking this? Please ANY advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Re: Twelve-Year-Old Minor Wrongly Issued An Assault Summons in Montana
There's more to this story that you're not telling us. We've all been through school. My initial guess is that your son has a history of assaultive behavior, and thus his story wasn't believed over that of the other boy.
One way or the other, socking somebody in the jaw isn't "self defense" for being punched in the arm. An appropriate reaction is to walk away, or get help from a teacher (not that a boy would necessarily want to get help from a teacher, but that's the expectation), or possibly even pushing the other kid away with no more force than necessary to get him to stop. You don't get to escalate the confrontation then call it "self-defense".