| Okay, I have read it now and don't know quite what to say. Accidents happen even in minor altercations. Not that you hear about it often but as I think back to when I was a kid there were any number of times I was pushed to the ground or into things like the monkey bars when I was trying to be passive and walk away from the bullies trying to pick fights. Of those times, I hit my head, ended up with scraped or cut arms. Sure they hurt and I was lucky they were not fatel as this was but it happens.
So, then what, does every kid in the school yard get charged when they do that?
Take it to an adult situation, when in Hawaii almost 20 years ago 5 of us (two couples and myself) were walking through a populated park (ball game in one corner, gym full of square dancers in another) when a group of about 7 drunk teens started to harass us and started taking swings. They even went as far as the brass knuckle thing. We got the women to run to the gym and the three of us ended up fighting while we made our way across the field to the gym as well. They eventually went away when we were too close to other people. What would have happened to us if we had pushed one of them up against a wall and they hit their heads? Self defense? The three of us really wanted to beat the crap out of them but did our best to keep ourselves from moving from a defensive position to an offensive one because we did not want to put ourselves on the wrong side of the fight just because if it went the wrong way we did not want to look like the agressors. (we talked about this after)
In any case, really, what would have happened if something had happened to one of them in this case? Would their defence be that they were too drunk to know what they were doing and that we should have known better? That we should have not walked through what looked like a family safe park with all the activities going on because we were tourists? Who knows but things like this article make me wonder if some of the laws go too far some times. If it was an accident, it was. The person that did the pushing will most likely never forget it.
just my 2 cents. |