Location: Wisconsin
My 13 year old daughter and her friends were approached by a man that started filming or taking pictures of them while circling them and sticking his phone in their faces at a park in Wisconsin. My daughter asked him to stop and he got even more in her face with the phone. She then pushed the phone out of her face and he then choked her with two hands on her neck. The cops came and labeled him the aggressor. No charges were filed as my wife and I were not there. The next day I spoke to the cops about pressing charges and they said they would have to file charges on my daughter and label her the aggressor as she touched his phone first. They also stated it is not against the law to put your phone in someone’s face.
Is putting your phone in someone’s face considered assault and could label this guy as the aggressor in this situation?
I am ultimately trying to throw something back at the police that would make them label this guy as the aggressor when pressing charges.
Thank you in advance for any help and guidance.
Comments
NAL
Who all witnessed this? I’m surprised that someone who put their hands on a person, especially their neck was not arrested. So is the story that you were told that actually factual?
Regardless, I would actually find a lawyer in your area that can give you advice on next steps.
Different states and different laws and then there are different opinions of officers. I’ll leave it at that.
If it had been me at my job in Texas, he would have gone to jail for Injury To A Child as possibly a felony. His lawyer could try to claim self defense by choking a 13 year old as necessary force to stop his phone from being pushed … that he was instigating.
That is assuming that I didn’t find evidence to the contrary. It’s easy to get one slanted side of the story. At the least I would have written it up for an investigation as is required by state law.
> Is putting your phone in someone’s face considered assault and could label this guy as the aggressor in this situation?
No, there is nothing in Wisconsin’s criminal statutes that would cover putting a phone in someone’s face. In fact, Wisconsin statutes do not include a formal charge for “assault” in the same way that most other states do. The choking would likely be considered battery though. Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to force the police or district attorney to act on it.
I wanna say something bout filming a minor without the parent/guardians permission being illegal, but not sure if thats still a thing or not.