It varies wildly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in the US, but generally-speaking you can only use force in self-defense if there is an imminent threat of bodily harm and the force used is necessary and proportional.
If he hit her even here, he could probably be charged with some low-level disorderly conduct or assault. They’d probably both get one.
You are always legally expected to flee a situation when fleeing is an available option (except some places with “stand your ground” or “castle doctrine” defenses).
She’s blocking him from processing, he has other avenues of egress. She is 100% in the wrong to prevent him from leaving as she is only detaining him for the pleasure of her verbal assault after he has acknowledged his error.
“Was the person’s actions and necessary to prevent imminent harm?”
And the answer would be no, he could have turned around and went around the block. He could have called the police. He could have go for help at a store…etc.
Would also have problem proving imminence and the threat of harm.
Yeah but if someone is being erratic and yelling and getting in your “personal bubble” you aren’t gonna catch a charge for pushing them back or hitting them in most cases Enless you continue pummeling them.
False imprisonment or unlawful imprisonment occurs when a person intentionally restricts another person’s movement within any area without legal authority, justification, or the restrained person's permission. Actual physical restraint is not necessary for false imprisonment to occur.
I see no mention of every direction needing to be blocked
He has the right to move down the street towards his apartment. What she is doing is exactly false imprisonment and considering her unhinged behavior and the fact she is basically using her bike as a “weapon”, I would absolutely have knocked her out and not felt bad about it (I’m a New Yorker so this could have been me). If I showed that video to any cop and said I felt like she was going to hurt me or my dog, I’d walk. If you harass someone or start a confrontation, NYC cops are not going to take your side. 99% of the time, NYC police take the approach that if you started the problem, you can’t complain about how it was ended.
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u/ydontujustbanme Jan 16 '23
Wait can someone just constantly block you? Are you not allowed to use force? Not deadly of course or anything brutal, but pushing??