# Last night I got punched in the Jaw. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279 "2009-04-24T23:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/21 "2009-04-25T07:15:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I don’t question that the response of the OP was not the best, but you seem to be implying that not responding at all would have been better. No - it’s the job of law enforcement to quell disputes like this, not the job of random passersby. I just don’t understand the mindset of people who want to be these great magnanimous heroes, when in reality all they get is punched in the mouth. By the OP’s own account, the woman on whose account he got himself involved in this mess was not at all grateful for his intervention. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/22 "2009-04-25T07:45:09Z")
With a police report being taken, you could probably find some very valuable information there. You know, for informative purposes only. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/23 "2009-04-25T08:01:44Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > Just Wednesday, I saw a kid about to step off the curb, as a car pulled around some stopped cars and speed up, going hell for leather. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Don’t know if the car would have been able to stop or would have hit him at all, or if the kid would have turned his head in time. Good for you. This is what living in a society is about- watching one another’s back. That’s why we left the trees in the first place. **Quasimodal** , you did the right thing by stepping in, even if it got you smacked. I trust you’ll continue to do the right thing in the future. ---
**Author:** ![not\_austin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c68b51/32.png) [@not\_austin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_austin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/24 "2009-04-25T08:55:50Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > No - it’s the job of law enforcement to quell disputes like this, not the job of random passersby. I just don’t understand the mindset of people who want to be these great magnanimous heroes, when in reality all they get is punched in the mouth. By the OP’s own account, the woman on whose account he got himself involved in this mess was not at all grateful for his intervention. Sorry, but I totally disagree with this. It is the responsibility of ANYONE in a civilised society to maintain that society. Ignoring an attack on a defenceless person is not the action of anyone I want to be associated with. Quasimodal, if I was in your position I would certainly press charges, if only to make him think twice the next time. Too many people don’t, which is why these people think they can get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/25 "2009-04-25T11:08:56Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > It’s just not your place nor your responsibility to break up strangers fighting in a building you don’t own. You are not a hero, and you are not going to fix the world. ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’ (normally attributed to) Edward Burke I hope you are never in need of any help from a stranger in this world ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/26 "2009-04-25T12:38:55Z")
I’d push charges as far as possible. Most likely it’s nothing but maybe it ends up as a misdemeanor on his record. Why? Because assholes get away with being assholes very often because people are “too busy to deal with it.” I can’t tell you how many times in life friends of mine have given me tales about how some asshole did some assholish thing and the friend ultimately just let it slide because they “didn’t want to bother.” Assholes thrive off of the fact that most people are non-confrontational and don’t want to bother. I always make it a point in life to stick it to people that have done things out of line. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/27 "2009-04-25T12:47:46Z")
Assuming the tape shows the situation as described, sue the guy for emotional and physical distress. Get a judgement against him for, say $500k. Ruin his credit for 7+ years, and have this lawsuit hanging over his head for the rest of his days so it shows up in background checks, credit checks, and the like. Put a lein against his future earnings until the bill is paid. Good times! ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/28 "2009-04-25T12:49:00Z")
I would press charges especially if in the tape it’s obvious that you were not threatening. I hate seeing people get away with being assholes. If the tape is really clear they’ll probably show it to him and he will plead to something and it won’t take much of your time. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/29 "2009-04-25T13:00:10Z")
Another vote for pursuing this. I don’t doubt your version, but if the tape backs up your story I think it would be open and shut. Though I do understand that it will take time out of your life as well. That sucks. I wonder how a law suite would fit into this. Something reasonable for your time and stress. Assholes like that need to be shown the light somehow. And what if your jaw starts giving you trouble? Rigamarole, what are you thinking? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/30 "2009-04-25T13:55:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > So let’s say you pursue it and press criminal charges; unless the guy has significant priors … The only reason I would suggest pursuing this is because this can be one of those priors. It establishes a record of violent behavior. If the woman ever does seek help, then the judge has a record to go on. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/31 "2009-04-25T14:04:10Z")
I will admit, the first time I saw the thread title I did a double-take… “Last night I got punched in the Jew?” What?? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/32 "2009-04-25T15:13:53Z")
I would pursue charges if I were you, you can’t let him get away with that. Having said that I’m not going to pat you on the back for the way you intervened in their drama, IMO it was borderline stupid, and there was an extremely high probability you were going to be at the receiving end of violence doing it. Unless you were prepared to defend yourself or take him out, to confront someone in that scenario was foolish. If he was physically abusing her that would have been a different kettle of fish, but if the argument is at the stage of yelling and crying to step in and offer to protect her was almost 100% guaranteed to set him off. The wisest thing you could have done was to call the police, stay close and make sure it did not become violent. People who trying to play hero in these domestic dramas often wind up getting attached by both the arguing man and woman for interfering. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/33 "2009-04-25T15:18:38Z")
I’ll just say once again in case anyone hasn’t read my two prior posts…I would have done things differently in retrospect. You guys have convinced me to at least view the tape. I’ll see if I can do it next week sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/34 "2009-04-25T16:12:22Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Assuming the tape shows the situation as described, sue the guy for emotional and physical distress. Get a judgement against him for, say $500k. Ruin his credit for 7+ years, and have this lawsuit hanging over his head for the rest of his days so it shows up in background checks, credit checks, and the like. Put a lein against his future earnings until the bill is paid. > > Good times! You people are living in some kind of fantasy world. I know the common belief in the public consciousness is that you can sue someone for having bad breath and win a judgment to pay for a lifetime supply of Botox treatments, but the reality here is that the o.p. doesn’t have a single medical bill, broken window, or injured reputation to establish any kind of real damages. Without this, there are no compensatory damages to be awarded and it is extremely unlikely a judge would assign or allow any kind of punitive damages; if he did it would almost certainly be reversed. As for criminal charges, no prosecutor with a desk stacked high with vehicular manslaughter, child molestation, armed robbery, abduction, rape, and murder cases is going to waste more than two minutes pleading this thing down to d.p. or some similarly meaningless misdemeanor. And if he did bring it into court the judge would probably toss the prosecutor a contempt fine for wasting the court’s time. Christ, when someone tried to mug me at gunpoint he got to walk out of the hospital r.o.r., despite priors and a couple of standing bench warrants in another jurisdiction. This guy isn’t going to get thirty days in the hoosgow and have his forehead branded for tossing a punch, however unprovoked. The criminal justice system does not exist to protect individuals and extract vengence for the wronged; it exists to preserve the peace, and is mostly indifferent to the minor indignities suffered in everyday life. And not to fault the o.p. for being wrong in taking some action, but he was seriously unprepared to deal with what was clearly an atavistic individual, which argues that he should have called for assistance first. Would you run into a fiercely burning building in street clothes, thereby making another victim of yourself, or call the fire department the members of whom are trained and equipped to deal with the situation at reduced risk to themselves. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/35 "2009-04-25T16:19:27Z")
I really don’t think he would get anything beyond community service or perhaps a small fine. I’ve never been to court so I am unsure about the process. I certainly don’t expect to get anything out of this. I just want to take the appropriate civilized action. I also want to see the tape, if only for to see myself get decked. Police procedure is interesting to learn about. At least by going through this I’m a little more prepared for future criminal incidents. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/36 "2009-04-25T18:00:27Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > You people are living in some kind of fantasy world. I know the common belief in the public consciousness is that you can sue someone for having bad breath and win a judgment to pay for a lifetime supply of Botox treatments, but the reality here is that the o.p. doesn’t have a single medical bill, broken window, or injured reputation to establish any kind of real damages. Without this, there are no compensatory damages to be awarded and it is extremely unlikely a judge would assign or allow any kind of punitive damages; if he did it would almost certainly be reversed. > > As for criminal charges, no prosecutor with a desk stacked high with vehicular manslaughter, child molestation, armed robbery, abduction, rape, and murder cases is going to waste more than two minutes pleading this thing down to d.p. or some similarly meaningless misdemeanor. And if he did bring it into court the judge would probably toss the prosecutor a contempt fine for wasting the court’s time. Christ, when someone tried to mug me at gunpoint he got to walk out of the hospital r.o.r., despite priors and a couple of standing bench warrants in another jurisdiction. This guy isn’t going to get thirty days in the hoosgow and have his forehead branded for tossing a punch, however unprovoked. The criminal justice system does not exist to protect individuals and extract vengence for the wronged; it exists to preserve the peace, and is mostly indifferent to the minor indignities suffered in everyday life. > > And not to fault the o.p. for being wrong in taking some action, but he was seriously unprepared to deal with what was clearly an atavistic individual, which argues that he should have called for assistance first. Would you run into a fiercely burning building in street clothes, thereby making another victim of yourself, or call the fire department the members of whom are trained and equipped to deal with the situation at reduced risk to themselves. > > Stranger [Joke](http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/joke.html). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/37 "2009-04-25T18:20:29Z")
You were there with a friend so why isn’t your friend a witness? Why wasn’t the tape viewed right there with the cop? What takes a few days? What was consistent about their story and not yours? Are they saying you attacked them or something? I sure hope you get to view the tape but something tells me the tape is already missing. If not, press charges, and file a complaint against the cop. Forget about suing the guy though. Unless you’re rich, you probably aren’t going to find a lawyer bored enough to take a case where he’s most likely not going to make a dime. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/38 "2009-04-25T18:23:57Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > epileptic seizure… a lot of jerks in the world. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/39 "2009-04-25T18:31:32Z")
When I was in college, at a dance in one of the dorms I got slugged in the eye by a complete stranger who grabbed me and wanted to dance with me; when I shook him off, he hauled off and socked me. I was able to identify him – he wasn’t a student, but it turned out he was quite familiar to the local police – and it turned out he did have significant priors. An awful lot of people told me to just drop it because he was a bad dude from a bad family, but I pressed charges anyway, testified against him, and as a result he was convicted and ended up going to jail for quite a while. So if this guy is that violent, you might be the one who helps put a bad guy away. You won’t know unless you follow up. Please, do the right thing. To this day I’m glad I did. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279/40 "2009-04-25T18:34:21Z")
I intervened in something like that once and ended up with an ambulance ride and 60 stitches. I would still do it again though – he was actually beating on her while she was on the ground and curled up. He changed his focus to me and she ran away. Oh, yeah, no one ever called and gave me a choice of whether to prosecute. I knew who the guy was, and he was arrested that night. He wasn’t prosecuted, and I wasn’t consulted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-night-i-got-punched-in-the-jaw/494279.md?page=3)