• Maalus@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        No it isn’t when there’s probable cause. And “dude started running after me” is enough for self defense to kick in. Actually it is probably enough to charge the dude.

      • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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        9 days ago

        Intentionally causing a person to fear harm is assault. Greentext is committing assault. It might not be possible to convict for it, but it’s still assault.

      • underwire212@lemm.ee
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        5 days ago

        They had legitimate reason to believe they were in danger. Not assault at all. Unlikely to be assault.

        Edit: Guess I shouldn’t say “definitely not assault”. Don’t have all the information here, so can’t come to any definitive conclusions.

          • Maalus@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            A man, in a hoodie, that speeds up his step when they try to walk away from him faster, at 2am. Context matters a lot here.

          • underwire212@lemm.ee
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            9 days ago

            It’s more than just “a man within range of vision”. Obviously we don’t have the full story here, but even in the text, there are specific behaviors that would, arguably, make a reasonable person suspect they were in imminent danger. Depending on the state, that is enough to trigger self-defense definition.