Is It Illegal to Attempt to Detain Your Attacker

My question iI was attacked by a drunk acquaintance in my private bedroom. He seriously injured me to the extent of drawing blood. I yelled out for help for the police to be called. As soon as he heard the name of the police he began to run away, in which case I tried to stall him so that he does not flee the scene of crime. The police arrived, and despite me having several visible injuries which were promptly photographed, the police refused to file an assault and battery case, but instead charged both of us with affray. They gave the reasoning that despite him having attacked me, I had no right to detain him, and hence I was equally at fault. My question is: was I wrong in attempting to prevent my attacker from fleeing the scene of crime, now that the police was on their way. Did my attacker not lose his right to freedom to movement, the moment he violated my right to personal safety?! If I were to file a lawsuit against him, do I have a strong case against him? He has no injuries.


Optional Information:
State/Country relating to Question: Georgia

Already Tried:
I have got my injuries documented, and written a detailed statement about the occurences of the night. Since I am a college student, and the incident occurred on-campus in college housing, I had my case hearing with College Housing Board. But so far, I have got no relief. Everyone seems to latch on to the part that why I did not let him go freely when he was fleeing. I keep telling everyone that I was scared at the moment, and did not want him to run away scot free and come back to attack me again, and catch me off-guard thereby causing even more serious harm to me. Plus he was drunk at the moment, and I wanted the authorities to catch him in that drunken state. I want justice, please advice what do I do? Can I file a lawsuit against this attacker?
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Both of us, are international students at a college in Atlanta, GA

I am not sure what kind of rights I have, and am afraid that if I charge him with damages, he might just flee the country, thereby making the entire exercise a big waste of time and money.

The entire incident has left me very traumatized, and I am undergoing psychiatric treatment for it. I am unable to concentrate on my academics, and from a Highest Honors student with an impeccable record, I am slipping to a below average student.

I do want some sort of justice. Instead of being treated like the victim, I am being treated as equally responsible for the whole affair.

College housing is threatening to throw me out of on-campus housing. Just yesterday, I was drilled for over an hour about why I didn't run away and lock myself in a room, and that my actions put me and the attacker in undue danger, and were disruptive to the peace and quiet of the rest of the resident community at large.

The police said that I had no right to detain him, and the housing board has said that iif if I had let him go, and locked myself in a room, they would have a much better chance at assigning accurate responsibility for the attack.

Suddenly that one small attempt of mine to have him arrested at the scene of crime, is the target of all attention. No one cares that he attacked me unprovoked, and I have got visible injuries to show. My attacker has ABSOLUTELY NO INJURIES except for a torn shirt.

Its been 14 days since the incident, and I feel like I am being victimized for doing the right and legal thing. I am beginning to feel that I should have just violently reacted and smashed my attacker's face, instead of trying to take the legal non-violent path.

The worst part is that I do not have a witness for the time when my attacker landed the first blow on me. The only witness I have is for a time before that when I was asking the attacker to leave my room multiple times which began to develop into a heated argument. The witness, a common friend, got scared and went outside to call for help. Thats when I was attacked.

When the witness came back, he saw us locked in a tussle, which is why he told the authorities that both of us were equally responsible for the fight.

The only other witness was another housing staff member, who said in his statement that when he arrived on the scene, Mr V, the attacker was trying to leave, and I was trying to forcefully hold on to his arm, yelling and screaming, that "I was attacked and the police should be called", and he had to physically break us up apart.

Because of all the above factors, everyone is treating it like a "fight" rather than an assault and battery.

What do I do? Do I even have a case, or should I just forget everything and move on?

The more I try to seek justice, the more my actions and intentions are questioned, leaving me feeling even more victimized.

You'd have a better case for a "citizen's arrest" if you were in your own home, rather than university housing, which doubtless has specific policies and procedures.

Still, I would at least consult with an attorney in your area. First consultation is usually free.

from what I have read, a citizens arrest is legal in Georgia for a misdemeanor.
I have not found any statutes to back that up though.

Some states do not allow a citizens arrest for a misdemeanor. Some states strictly limit the amount of force you can use in your detention.



Part of the problem stems from the fact you were involved with the initial crime so rather than a citizens arrest, the police viewed it as you continued the violent activity and as such, were also acting as an aggressor. At that point, it is being looked at as a fight rather than an assault and battery on you.

as to the school booting you: they are allowed to enforce their own rules regardless of the activity being legal or not. If they view your actions as continuing the fighting and that is cause to be booted, then you can be booted.


since there are no other witnesses to the attack, I would suggest you are not going to win the argument.

Does the fact

1)that I have injuries and he does not
2)That I called the police
3)That the attacker was in my private quarter despite my verbal objections
4)That the attacker was drunk

Dont the above have any significance at all?!

Does it mean that the next time someone attacks me, and then decides to walk off after severely injuring me.....I should let him do so....so that he can come back to return the favor another day?!

none of those will mean much of anything.

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Does it mean that the next time someone attacks me, and then decides to walk off after severely injuring me.....I should let him do so....so that he can come back to return the favor another day?

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No, you let him go and you call the police to deal with the criminal. As this was an acquaintance, if you let him walk, called the police and gave his name, he would be the only one being charged.

In most states, once you are not being threatened with force or injury, you have no right to touch the other person. You call the police and let them do what they are hired to do.

What happens in the case the attacker flees, and later on says that he did not cause the injuries?

Or even worse, seeing that I got the police involved, decides to fake some injuries on himself before appearing before the authorities? Wont I be even worse trouble then?

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Quoting decimal

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The worst part is that I do not have a witness for the time when my attacker landed the first blow on me. The only witness I have is for a time before that when I was asking the attacker to leave my room multiple times which began to develop into a heated argument. The witness, a common friend, got scared and went outside to call for help. Thats when I was attacked.

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This is where I see your problem is. This person was in your "private bedroom" in a drunken state before the altercation began, presumably with your permission. You don't indicate whether you had been drinking or not.

So, there were three of you in your room. An argument started between you and one of the other persons. The third person left the room to call for help. While that person was gone, the argument turned physical; you got the worst end of it. But, that doesn't prove that the other person started the fight, only that he may be a better fighter. You then decided to detain the other person. There was no need to do this merely because of the attack, because the person was known and easily identifiable. You could merely have given the police his name and room number. His attempting to leave the scene could be seen as an attempt to stop the altercation.

So, definitely discuss this with an attorney to see if the attorney feels a case can be built. But, based on your account, the situation is iffy. I suspect the other person may have a different account that shows you in a less favorable light.

The person was not in my room with my permission.

Like I said, the common friend and I were working on a classwork assignment late at night in my room. Neither of us had been drinking. The third guy appeared in my room at 12:30am after having drunk at a bar for the past 2 hours. Because I was busy and in no mood to fool around, I repeatedly asked him to leave my room.

The witness testified to this, and the fact that the attacker was drunk.

As I mentioned earlier, I was scared of him leaving before the police arrived because I would have no way to prove that he inflicted the damage on me. The witness being a common friend has already so far tried to dilute the case as much as possible so that neither of his friends get into serious trouble. To make matters worse, my attacker is a smooth talker and is able to get out of trouble quite easily.

The worst part is, if someone injures you to the extent of drawing blood several times and all you do is to pin him down because you cannot get yourself to attack a friend, and then when you release him from your grip, he attacks you again, which is when you decide to call the police, the attacker non-chalantly replies.." i dont have the time for this.....i am going clubbing....no one tells me what to do".....wht would your instinctive reaction be then in the heat of the moment?

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As I mentioned earlier, I was scared of him leaving before the police arrived because I would have no way to prove that he inflicted the damage on me.

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you would have your witness to the events leading up to the altercation, you would have the injuries when your friend got back.

the police can put 2 and 2 together and get 4.

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." i dont have the time for this.....i am going clubbing....no one tells me what to do".....wht would your instinctive reaction be then in the heat of the moment?

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let him go and call the police.

I do not like fighting and I know, if I attempt to detain somebody, it is very likely they are going to try to escape. That means I might get hit. I don't want to get hit if I can avoid it so I let them go and call the police.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

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Quoting jk

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you would have your witness to the events leading up to the altercation.

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Thats the problem, I wish things were that simple...this common "friend" is more obsessed with diffusing the situation more than anything else.

Coz the police arrived with both of us there, he wanted to diffuse the responsibilty on both of us, because if he blamed just the one of us, the police would have taken that person to jail for the night.

If the police had arrived after the other guy left, this witness would have said that he wasnt sure or that he didnt see nething.

Basically, he thinks it is in our best interest to resolve the matter internally. In fact, till this date, he advises me to "talk things out" with the attacker so that "we" can present a "unified front" in front of the College Judicial Council, so that none of us get charged with anything serious!!

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Quoting jk

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I don't want to get hit if I can avoid it so I let them go and call the police.

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After all the injuries that he had already inflicted on me by this stage, I didnt care about dogding a few punches here and there.

Yes, if it was a stranger and an overly powerful person, that I was severely disadvantaged against, then yes, my instinct would be to get away ASAP. But, unfortunately, the case was neither.

Moreover all the injuries he inflicted on me were when he caught me offguard, when I wasnt expecting him to attack me- Like the time he first attacked me, and the time when I let him go after he had stopped struggling/fighting, and he reciprocated by digging his nails into my neck and scratching me viciously all over my body.

When the doctors saw my injuries, they couldnt believe that it wasa guy who did it. Their first instinctive response was that I was in a fight with a girl.