Quote:
Originally Posted by virginiagirl
This Friday my boyfriend and I and a few of our friends were outside Dave & Buster's at a mall in Mongtomery County, Maryland. 3 guys and a girl came up and and started a verbally threatening my boyfriend for no reason (they were drunk and aggressive). We went inside to get away from them, then two of the guys grabbed my boyfriend and smashed a heavy glass mug (the type that is designed to hold two beers) into his face & then took off. My boyfriend was out cold and was bleeding profusely...the cops came and so did an ambulance. There were other witnesses who gave statements saying that my boyfriend did nothing wrong, and the guys just attacked him.
The police took a report and apprehended the 3 guys, but said they couldn't arrest them because in Maryland they don't make arrests for "simple assaults" - assaults that don't result in life-threatening injuries. They said they'd only arrest them if they had committed burglary or if Dave & Buster's had pressed charges for destruction of property (it was a mug from their restaurant). They gave us the 3 guy's names, addresses, etc. so we could press civil charges.
Okay, I think that is really crazy. My boyfriend was in the hospital for 3 days, has 4 broken bones in his face, and can't work for at least 1 week (because he can't drive - severe concussion). He lost a lot of blood and suffered a lot of trauma.
Is there anything that can be done??? I just can't believe the cops didn't do anything. I don't know if civil charges would accomplish anything.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated
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Clearly, this is a classic case of a police officer who is unwilling to do his job. (NOTE: This is the type of thing that can be effectively reported to a superior as opposed to a complaint about failure to act when the officer is under no compulsion to act).
A little tutorial (NOT written by me) about the laws in your state:
"In most states, an assault/battery is committed when one person 1) tries to or does physically strike another, or 2) acts in a threatening manner to put another in fear of immediate harm. Many states declare that a more serious or "aggravated" assault/battery occurs when one 1) tries to or does cause
serious injury to another, or 2) causes injury through use of a deadly weapon. Historically, laws treated the threat of physical injury as "assault", and the completed act of physical contact or offensive touching as "battery," but many states no longer differentiate between the two."
In a nutshell, physical contact does not even have to occur for a charge of assault/battery to be brought against the perpetrator. The distinction is not the actual injury, but the INTENT. Example: If the man had ( God forbid) aimed a gun at your boyfriend and fired, and it didn't fire, and no injury occurred, according to the police you spoke with, no charge could be filed, since the charge is based on the injury that was sustained. Clearly, this is not the case.
I would ask to speak to the officers superior and ask for a copy of the law that differentiates between assault and aggravated assault. All the officer has to do to provide you with a copy of this is turn around at his desk, type into his computer and hit PRINT. Obviously, he is not going to do this unless pressed to do so. If he does not provide you with a copy of Maryland law that states what he is stating to you (as you described above), rest assured you are being faced with another marginally professional officer whose goal is to do as little as possible. If you cannot get any response from the officers superior, I would contact a local attorney and ask for a free or low cost consultation.
Now---a local attorney cannot BRING charges FOR you. But, he can contact the police department and explain to them that their failure to act in accordance with the law IS opening them up to a lawsuit under Section 1983.
A crime has been committed--if what you have stated is entirely true. I would not let it go unaddressed either.
Good luck.
08-27-2007, 10:00 AM
Thanks for everyone' shelp
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