[[This guy would have been punched long before he came within an inch of me.]]
you can punch him- and I’m not advocating not to if you feel threatened- but you’ll then have to prove you felt threatened because you threw the first punch- whuiekl the aggression IS enough to support a defe3nse that you felt threatened, it can only really be proved if there were witnesses, or video or soemthing- but hwen cops show up to a cscene, they look for marks- theo ne with hte marks is the victim regardless of how it went down in actuality IF there were no witnesses- the cop’s only concern is who threw the first punch- they are not itnerested in WHY the punch was thrown
The bottom line is that there has to be compelling evidence to support the need for a first punch- toehrwise it will be called an assault, possibly even criminal assault- two peopel screamign at each other, doesn’t give oen person a right to hit hte other (although I supposed it oculd be aergtued that if the one person who hit wass spit on i nthe verbal exchange, that that could be cosntrued as assault- especially in today’s age with all the diseases around)
I’tsw a fien line- and it’;s why you often see two peopel screaming at each other, pointign violently, even gettign right in the other’;s face, but not actually touchign hte other person- lots of posturing goign on, lots of barking but no actual biting-
Martin crossed the line by committing criminal assault on ?George them oment he laid a hand on him- and he definately crossed thel ien when he bagan beatign george’s head into the sidewalk- George was fully within his rights to follow trayvon- following someoen is NOT a crime- Assaultign someoen without a very good reason to IS a crime- Being followed is NOT a reason to assautl someone- it sucks to be sure, but had trasyvon called that dispathcer, I bet if he said he was goign to assault George, the dispatcher woudl have said “We don’t need yuo to do that’ ANDF woudl have been right to suggest that- the dispatcher was NOT right to state that same thing to george because George was NOT doign anyhtign wrong- infat, he was doign his duty-
I was only guessing that this guy's purpose was to beg for money. He was not holding anything. If I had thrown a punch, it would have occurred about 18 inches from the door of my truck. Had such an event occurred, I would no doubt be relying on my credibility as a law-abiding citizen, with no history of bothering others, making a routine visit to a department store. This would be up against the word of a person who perhaps has a background of drug use, petty crimes, or possibly even complaints of criminally aggressive panhandling.
The other person's behavior caused me to have a reasonable apprehension that I was about to be harmed. Fortunately, my body language made clear to him that I desired no conversation or other contact with him and that his further approaching me was unwelcome in the extreme.
I think he approached me the way he did with the intention of causing me to have to brush past him in order to proceed with my business. He was counting on my wishing to avoid a confrontation as a means of making me willing to donate to his cause. He was not expecting me to so quickly defend the space that I already occupied and abandoned his plan immediately.