Do we have any reliable cite for the existence of this practice?
A search of “rolling coal” on Youtube results in several videos of this practice.
I’m just one data point, but it happened to my folks last week. Sadly for these morons, they didn’t realize the yahoo in front of them was doing all that on purpose. Instead, they just figured he was too broke to fix his piece of shit truck. And the funniest part? They’re all (my family) Obama hatin,’ gun totin,’ Republicans. Perhaps they need to put up a sign in the back window of their Prius to that affect?
Your answer appears to be a guess.
I can say for sure that it does not fit the New Jersey statute for assault. http://law.onecle.com/new-jersey/2c-the-new-jersey-code-of-criminal-justice/12-1.html
Maybe disorderly conduct. Possibly harassment. Certainly a motor vehicle violation.
For the other states, you will have 49 different answers. And depending on the wording, you might not get an answer until there is some case law.
I can state from personal experience that normal diesel exhaust can be a real hazard to a bicycle rider. I used to ride everywhere, and I wore contact lenses. A normal acceleration cloud would, from time to time, put an excruciatingly painful particulate in my eye such that I would have to stop and cry for five minutes to get it out. So, just randomly dumping smoke on a person is a highly risky proposition (e.g., “oh, sorry about spraying you with peanut oil, I had no idea you were allergic”).
In fact more harmful than urine and “offensive” … seems like that is (in these cases possibly literally) the eye of the beholder. Like oil this smoke significantly increases the risk of an accident. This is setting off a noxious smoke cloud in front of other drivers and cyclists, impeding vision and intentionally causing dangerous conditions.
How about the two links in my OP?
http://theulelaw.com/flour-bomb-kim-kardashian-assault-and-battery-charges/
This is for flour bombing of a celebrity, but I would think it would apply similarly to coal rolling. Perhaps not, I’m not a lawyer. Sounds like these cases are full of nuance until some precedent gets established.
Unless there is another statute, it seems that NJ doesn’t outlaw “offensive” touching, only harmful. What would be the penalty in your state if I kept giving you a “wet willie” and you didn’t like it and told me to stop?
Those links go to the Daily Mail and to Youtube, respectively.
Harassment.
If Diesel soot is deposited on clothes, then it requires those clothes and your person to be washed. If it is deposited on your car, then it requires the car to be washed. So it is ‘causing damage’, if not bodily harm.
There is a lot of shoehorning going on in this thread. In a legal sense I would never make getting something dirty the same as causing damage.
A bunch of videos of something happening is a pretty good cite that it exists.
So if I throw a cream pie at someone, you don’t think I’m causing damage? The courts seem to disagree.
And you have some case law for this “intimately associated” thing you’ve read into the law? Or the proposition that a car is “intimately associated” in the first place?
Because I would love to defend against that charge with that fact pattern.
To be clear, I don’t mean proof that it happens at all, ever. I mean proof that it happens to any remotely significant degree.
Most certainly, or minimally reckless endangerment, depending on circumstances. It would be legally no different than taking a pedestrian discharging an aerosol can into someone’s face.
[QUOTE=New Jersey statute for assault]
New Jersey Statutes - Title 2C The New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice - 2C:12-1 Assault.
2C:12-1. Assault. a. Simple assault. A person is guilty of assault if he:
(1) **Attempts** to cause or purposely, **knowingly** or **recklessly** causes bodily injury to another; or
[/QUOTE]
The statute here does not place a lower limit on “bodily injury”. They could likely be successfully prosecuted for simple assault based on knowingly exposing involuntary victims to noxious fumes.
NPR sticker. Or one of those “Coexist” signs. Eyeglasses. That sort of thing.