Many people who don't have much legal knowledge often confuse the terms "assault" and "battery." In many cases, these terms go together, but there are cases that involve assault without battery. Although the definition of each term can vary somewhat by state, battery typically involves making contact with another person, while an assault can be as simple as an attempt to cause harm — even if no physically contact between the aggressor and the victim is made. While the police are often involved in cases of assault and battery, it's possible that you'll want to hire an attorney and bring a personal injury suit against someone whose aggressive actions — meeting the definition of assault — caused you injury, even without contact occurring. Here are some injuries that could have happened.
Tripping And Falling
If someone were to commit an assault against you, perhaps by making an aggressive gesture such as forming a fist and brandishing it in your direction, you might understandably have turned to run away. Unfortunately, you could have slipped and fallen in your haste to leave the danger zone. While the police might not bring charges against the aggressor, a personal injury attorney may take your case because he or she feels that this person's intentional act against you — even without making contact — was directly responsible for your injury.
Getting Hit By A Vehicle
Turning and running to flee the scene is a natural reaction when someone commits an assault by brandishing a fist at you, and as you attempt to flee, you may not always be aware of your surroundings. In the event of this type of incident taking place on a city street, you may have turn and run or simply backed away and ended up in the path of a moving vehicle — resulting in serious injuries. This is another scenario in which your attorney would argue that your injury would not have occurred if not for the person's aggressive behavior.
Running Into An Object
If you panicked after the person acted threateningly toward you, you might have been in such a hurry to get away that you weren't aware of your environment. This meant that you could have turned and ran into a street sign, a bench, or some other type of immovable object. Colliding with any of these things could leave you facing serious injuries, all because of the aggressor's interaction with you. Your personal injury attorney will fight to get damages for your injury.
For more information, contact local professionals like those found at Steele Law Offices, LLC.
Hello, I'm Christina Miller. Have you ever been fascinated with why the law works the way it does? Ever since I was in junior high, I had an intense interest in anything related to our legal system, whether it be a crime drama on television, a judge show or a legal case covered on the news. I followed it all. As time progressed, I began learning about how the actual legal system worked and not just the fictionalized version of our legal system. This has lead me to start writing my own blog posts about law that I hope will help others.