Would you be done for assault?

[Cycling Dan]

A video is seen on The war on britians roads was a man that came and grabbed a cyclist with his fist up as if he was going to punch him saying he was going to knock him out.

In this situation if you for example kicked or knee him in the groin and wacked the bike across his face to knock him out and neutralize the threat.
However in this situation you felt scared for your well-being and you thought he was going to punch you.
Would you be done for assault?
If i find the video i will link it
In this situation the guy didn't punch him but it was on the line to looking like it

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t5PqTlvfavM

 

[Matthew_T]

Found it:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwpgrbyQRbs


I would say touching anyone at any level is assault.

 

[Cycling Dan]

Found it:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwpgrbyQRbs


I would say touching anyone at any level is assault.

thats not the one its grumpy cyclists one

 

[Pale Rider]

Self-defence is a legitimate defence to a charge of assault.

Thus if some angry motorist is about to whack you, and you whack him first, there's a good chance you won't be charged, and if you are, you can run the defence of self-defence.

However, where a lot of people go wrong is by using too much force (usually too many blows) in their defence.

You can only use minimum force strictly necessary to neutralise the threat.

A phrase you will often hear in court from defence lawyers is: "This is a case of self-defence gone too far."

In our example that might be if the cyclist neutralises the threat by knocking the attacker to the ground, but then hops of his bike and kicks the attacker a few times for good measure.

 

[Matthew_T]

hats not the one its grumpy cyclists ones

Oh right. The one where the guy runs down the road?

 

[sabian92]

If you whack a guy with a bike you would probably lose the self defence argument. That's far too much to be honest.

 

[TheLondonCyclist]

The video shows nothing of assault or an attempt of an assault. This wouldn't even come udner common assault, why? because his fist wasn't clenched to frighten the other person into thinking he was going to be attacked. All he did was pointed and touched his chest. If this was reported and persued with all his might, it would end up being at the bottom of the barrel on common assault. "come out, what are you gonna do" ? what's that all about, droid? hmmm

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

All his own fault though!

 

[CopperCyclist]

A video is seen on The war on britians roads was a man that came and grabbed a cyclist with his fist up as if he was going to punch him saying he was going to knock him out.

In this situation if you for example kicked or knee him in the groin and wacked the bike across his face to knock him out and neutralize the threat.
However in this situation you felt scared for your well-being and you thought he was going to punch you.
Would you be done for assault?
If i find the video i will link it
In this situation the guy didn't punch him but it was on the line to looking like it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01p7q2l/War_on_Britains_Roads/
Time at 12:20

I remember the video.

With the video evidence to back you up, you would likely not be charged with assault if you kicked or kneed him in the groin to prevent the imminent punch. Whacking him across the face with the bike... hmmm... that one may be discussed, especially if it ended up with serious injuries. The force has to be proportionate.

However, you have to also consider the fact that in the video, the bloke ended up walking away, and no one got hurt. If the victim had defended himself with a punch, I have no doubt it would have led to a full blown fight where someone would have got hurt. That's the problem with self defence - often, the 'legal' self defence isnt truly successful - the attacker doesn't stop and give up after being struck once, it just provokes them not further violence. There is nothing legally wrong in then continuing to defend yourself, as long as you stop when they have been stopped, but you need to consider whether it is really a situation that you are comfortable in being in.

For what it's worth, in the video as I recall it, I would have defended myself physically.

Also, if there's no video backing you up, then even if you have acted completely lawfully, any police called to investigate this won't know this until after talking to you which may well end up being on tape, after an arrest.

 

[MrJamie]

The video shows nothing of assault or an attempt of an assault. This wouldn't even come udner common assault, why? because his fist wasn't clenched to frighten the other person into thinking he was going to be attacked. All he did was pointed and touched his chest. If this was reported and persued with all his might, it would end up being at the bottom of the barrel on common assault. "come out, what are you gonna do" ? what's that all about, droid? hmmm

The video he was talking about isn't the one Matt posted, it's some Lee Nelson lookalike stood right up in the guys face, fist clenched and raised threatening to punch him (on the original iplayer link).

I think backing out of it like the guy did in the video is by far the best idea. I think given the threat on you, you're allowed to defend yourself enough to get away, not until the guy is broken and unconcious "neutralized" in a heap on the floor. Im not sure how you'd hit someone in the face with a bike in that situation

 

[TheLondonCyclist]

The video he was talking about isn't the one Matt posted, it's some Lee Nelson lookalike stood right up in the guys face, fist clenched and raised threatening to punch him (on the original iplayer link).

I think backing out of it like the guy did in the video is by far the best idea. I think given the threat on you, you're allowed to defend yourself enough to get away, not until the guy is broken and unconcious "neutralized" in a heap on the floor. Im not sure how you'd hit someone in the face with a bike in that situation

Oh, then no. If you hit him while his fist was clenched... actually I saw that video, I would have done more than hit him if he done that to me, but hey, I'm behind a PC screen, right?

 

[Andrew_P]

Trouble is with kerbs and road traffic around it could get much worse than punching someone, one punch manslaughter is quite common. I am still convinced body language plays a big part, hence always get off the bike and put on your angry face long before he get to raise his fist.

 

[markharry66]

personally I do not like this video as i felt its intimidation on droids part.

 

[Cycling Dan]

I remember the video.

With the video evidence to back you up, you would likely not be charged with assault if you kicked or kneed him in the groin to prevent the imminent punch. Whacking him across the face with the bike... hmmm... that one may be discussed, especially if it ended up with serious injuries. The force has to be proportionate.

However, you have to also consider the fact that in the video, the bloke ended up walking away, and no one got hurt. If the victim had defended himself with a punch, I have no doubt it would have led to a full blown fight where someone would have got hurt. That's the problem with self defence - often, the 'legal' self defence isnt truly successful - the attacker doesn't stop and give up after being struck once, it just provokes them not further violence. There is nothing legally wrong in then continuing to defend yourself, as long as you stop when they have been stopped, but you need to consider whether it is really a situation that you are comfortable in being in.

For what it's worth, in the video as I recall it, I would have defended myself physically.

Also, if there's no video backing you up, then even if you have acted completely lawfully, any police called to investigate this won't know this until after talking to you which may well end up being on tape, after an arrest.

Cracking explanation
This is what i wanted to know
In the situation i would have also defended myself physically.
In the video you can see that he walks away but this is the power of hindsight... at that place and in that time you have no idea what hes going to do and with a fist near your face grabbing you i would lash out without a doubt.

 

[Cycling Dan]

Oh right. The one where the guy runs down the road?

The video shows nothing of assault or an attempt of an assault. This wouldn't even come udner common assault, why? because his fist wasn't clenched to frighten the other person into thinking he was going to be attacked. All he did was pointed and touched his chest. If this was reported and persued with all his might, it would end up being at the bottom of the barrel on common assault. "come out, what are you gonna do" ? what's that all about, droid? hmmm

its the wrong video, if you click the link in my op and go to the time you will see the video im on about.