Walk It Through: The Shove in the Parking Lot
Words, a threat, a shove back, and the line between assault and battery.
An argument over a parking spot gets loud, and the other driver raises a fist and steps in.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Two strangers in a parking lot, no weapons. A fight with a family member, a weapon drawn, and an officer stepping in are covered on their own pages.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Probable causeThe ground an officer needs to arrest without a warrant for a felony, or for a misdemeanor with a further reason it cannot wait.
- Self defense immunityA person whose force was justified is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for it, and may not be arrested for it without probable cause.
- AssaultKnowingly placing another person in reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm, a class C person misdemeanor.
- Person crimeA crime the code labels person rather than nonperson; burglary of a dwelling is a person felony, while burglary of another building is a nonperson felony.
- Severity levelThe rank of a felony on the sentencing grid, whose other axis is criminal history; each box gives a range in months of imprisonment.
- BatteryKnowingly or recklessly causing bodily harm to another, or knowingly touching another in a rude, insulting or angry manner, a class B person misdemeanor.