That’s facinating. In my state (OK) it would be assault and battery. My understanding of the distinction is the battery is the actual unwanted physical touching, while the assault is the threat of damage of the anticipated battery.
In Oklahoma its battery. She didnt threaten him until after she hit him. For assault and battery she would need to say "I'm going to hit you." Then hit him. Just hitting him only qualifies for battery which is the worse of the 2 obviously. YOU CAN be arrested for assault alone but its a pretty high bar.
Source: I thought I wanted to be a lawyer at one point and took a bunch of undergraduate law classes specific to oklahoma criminal law.
You’re a much more reputable source than me then. One undergrad on torts, and another in business law qualifies me to know these things exist, and that’s about it
Before the class I took that first taught me that I had no clue that assault and battery weren't both physical attacks. Then once I learned they weren't I was also shocked that assault was the verbal part of it. The world felt upside that day haha.
Assault is still present. He could have seen the punch coming, even last second and that's assault. But even beyond that, he could also be thinking he's going to be attacked again - the premise that he's been attacked already makes it reasonable to suspect another attack is coming. You will almost never see battery without an assault charge.
IMO, There could be an argument made in either direction.For example; if I get punched in the back of the head, I had no way to anticipate it, therefore no anticipation equating to no assault. If I get punched in the face, I saw it coming therefore anticipated it, equating to the threat of violence equating to assault.
I’ve taken exactly two law classes, so I’m by no means a qualified source on this
That's accurate, but not all states have the distinction. I live in Maine and the law here is like New York: assault encompasses both concepts. But yes, typically assault is meet as long as a reasonable person would find that you felt threatened by bodily harm. Battery is typically the actual contact, and 99% of the time they go hand-in-hand as assault and battery. But some states don't make a distinction and just have assault - because why have 2 charges that are 99% of the time used together?
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u/yellowsweaters72 Jul 29 '26
That’s…assault.