assault with a deadly minivan

[dilletante]

there's a weird ambiguity or paradox in the law-- or maybe the law's clear and i just don't know the answer-- that i keep running into in news stories like this one about journalists breaking into a tesla battery factory.

note first of all that the journalists have their own version of the story in which the security guards (or someone) also did

Comments

[oneagain]

the ambiguity is: if you deliberately step into the path of a car to try to box it in with your body, does it make sense to charge the driver with "assault" for failing to back down from the game of chicken that you initiated? something about that doesn't seem right to me.

In the case of running someone over who you can see who won't get out of your way? I think partly it depends on how desperate you are to leave, and what is fueling that desperation. If you are in danger and they wont' let you escape it, then no, I don't think assault charges are warranted, but try proving the ill-intent and see how far you get; depends so much on the opinions of folks hearing the case. I confess I don't actually expect the justice system to necessarily make sense anyway.