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My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do

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  • 06-06-2009, 06:15 AM
    vox
    My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    This all happened in the state of TX.

    My 20 year old son was at a party. I am not sure exactly what happened, but my son ended up getting attacked by his now ex-friend (lets refer to this ex-friend as Mark), Mark's father (a 40+yr old man), Mark's uncle (a 30+yr old man), and Mark's cousin. All 4 of them had him on the ground and totally beat him up completely and repeatedly. My son came home in tears with a bloody nose and his face/nose was extremely swollen. This all happened in their front/back yard of Marks house.

    My son says that Marks uncle was the one who threw the first punch, so he fought back trying to defend himself against a fully grown adult man 20+ years older than him. And once that fight started, Mark and his father and cousin joined in on the fight and just totally beat him up.

    I havent taken him to the doctor yet to see if there are any injuries as this happened last night. I am worried his nose my be broken, it was extremely swollen and he says it hurts badly. Is there any way I can take legal action against Mark and his family for this? Or atleast legally force them to pay for any medical bills that may arise because of their assault and injuries caused to my son while on their property? It all happened on Mark's families property, after they agreed to let my son in their house and whatnot. Is it the same as if someone were to get injured in a school, where the school would be liable for the damages?

    Any and all responses are appreciated.
  • 06-06-2009, 06:25 AM
    LawResearcherMissy
    Re: My Son Was Assuled by 4 People. is There Anything I Can Do
    Good heavens, call the police and have those thugs brought up on assault charges! Beating people up is illegal!

    And yes, hire an attorney and sue for the cost of the medical bills. Take pictures of his injuries, and be certain to sign the release to allow your attorney access to the medical records.
  • 06-06-2009, 07:23 AM
    vox
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    Well the only thing that worries me is the fact that my son (a 20yr old college student) was at a party with a bunch of other people his age, so I would be very surprised if there wasnt underage drinking involved at the party.

    Would I still be able to sue them if it turned out there was alcohol at the party? I would imagine if there was alcohol my son would have been drinking it along with everyone else, and he still has a year to go before he is legal. Would this 'void' the case in a sense? I dont want to end up getting my son charged for underage drinking, could that happen if it turned out he was drinking at the party and we sued them and their lawyer brought it up in court?
  • 06-06-2009, 07:42 AM
    LawResearcherMissy
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    Quote:

    Would I still be able to sue them if it turned out there was alcohol at the party?
    Yes.

    Beating someone up is still illegal, even if the victim was falling down drunk, stoned out of his gourd, and well underage. Your son being underage and drinking does not void the crime of assault.

    Pardon my forthrightness, but not calling the police and pressing charges because your son might have been drinking is dumb. If he has injuries serious enough that he requires medical care - and you really need to have him checked out! - the police need to be called, period.

    It seems to me that it would be a little late for him to be cited for underage drinking, as no police arrived at the party, but that's a question for the attorney you really need to be consulting about this.
  • 06-06-2009, 07:56 AM
    vox
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    Quote:

    Quoting LawResearcherMissy
    View Post
    Yes.

    Beating someone up is still illegal, even if the victim was falling down drunk, stoned out of his gourd, and well underage. Your son being underage and drinking does not void the crime of assault.

    Pardon my forthrightness, but not calling the police and pressing charges because your son might have been drinking is dumb. If he has injuries serious enough that he requires medical care - and you really need to have him checked out! - the police need to be called, period.

    It seems to me that it would be a little late for him to be cited for underage drinking, as no police arrived at the party, but that's a question for the attorney you really need to be consulting about this.

    Ah ok, I see now. Yes I plan on taking him to the doctor today (it happened just last night) to make sure there are no serious injuries. My main concern is that his nose might be broken, which isnt really all that serious I suppose. The only reason I doubted calling the police is because the injuries didnt seem too serious, and I didnt want him to end up getting charged and having that on his record unless it was something serious. But since you say even if he was drinking it wouldnt void the crime, then I think I will get the police involved.

    As far as the police go, I think they actually did come to the party. But by the time they had arrived, my son had managed to get away from the assailants and make it to the safety of his truck and leave. Could this have any affect on things (the fact that the police came, although my son was gone by then)?

    By the way, thank you very much for your help. Youve pretty much answered my questions right on the dot.:)
  • 06-06-2009, 08:26 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    Sometimes a broken nose isn't serious. Other times it requires expensive surgical correction.
  • 06-06-2009, 11:48 AM
    cdwjava
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    Plus, your son is an adult. Is HE willing to cooperate with the police? Does he want to speak to the police? It is not your place to report this to the police, it is his.

    - Carl
  • 06-07-2009, 02:18 AM
    tc498
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    Regardless how your son see a doctor asap,if he wants to talk to the police,the quicker the better. There allowed to use reasonable force,4 people beating down 1 person is not reasonable force,it might even be considered gang assault b.c there was 4 against 1.
  • 06-14-2009, 03:28 PM
    ForgetAboutIt
    Re: My Son Was Assaulted by 4 People - What I Can Do
    This is one of those things that you have to talk to an attorney, it is really hard for people to give you advise without ALL the facts. When you talk to the attorney, your son needs to be 100% honest with him/her to get accurate advice. Sometimes, we have a tendency to tell other people "our side" that makes us look "good" and the other side look "bad." And think about ALL the consequences of the action before you take it. I think you need to report it to the police and let them take care of it, but keep in mind that they could report something entirely different to the police about what happened. You need to be 100% honest with YOUR attorney because if your son was also not an entirely "innocent" person in the fight, he might be charged with something as well, and only he/she can tell you that.
    The four, if you can prove that they did it (I'm not doubting your son's word, I'm just telling you what the law requires), will be punished more than your son - even if they tried to use a self-defense defense as 4 on 1 is NOT going to be seen as self defense, but if they can demonstrate that your son was an active participant, he might be charged with assault as well.
    My advice would be to go to the hospital and take them to Civil court for medical expenses because even if your son was a party to the fight, he can still claim civil damages, no matter who "started" the fight (that's why convicted prisoners sometimes "sue"). But keep in mind that they can also take you to civil court to sue for their "damages" (although I'll doubt there is any).
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